Currently, there is a trend that people prefer finding information online to searching for it in books as they have done before. From my perspective, such a development, although detrimental at some point, could be seen as an essential step forward in how we access knowledge.
On the one hand, there is a notable downside of using the Internet as a form to find information, which relates to misinformation. Nowadays, there are many individuals who tend to spread misleading knowledge through posts on the Internet. It is not only challenging for many readers to distinguish the accurate or inaccurate information, but it also impacts negatively on users’ perception about this knowledge. For instance, the Vietnamese tabloid journalism Kenh14, which has a habit of publishing untrue knowledge about celebrities. As a result, they tend to believe these untruths and even boycott these celebrities, causing a decline in their popularity. However, authorities in Vietnam have established some policies to compensate organizations which spread inaccurate knowledge and have launched campaigns to raise public awareness about choosing a more reliable source of information.
On the other hand, there are several major benefits of this trend. To begin with, it can be more convenient and accessible for users to find information online, because the Internet a vastvast amount of knowledge. This definitely saves people time to search for the needed information, unlike books, which wastes our time for looking up materials relating to our research topics, not to mention there are situations where we can’t find these books. In addition to this, online materials are even cheaper than printed books which allow readers to acquire knowledge more easily without having to pay anything. For instance, there is a group of students who want to find information about ‘Technology’ through books. While online books can cost just within 1 dollar, printed books can be much more expensive (about 4 to 5 dollars).
In conclusion, I strongly believe that the advantages of the trend outweigh the drawbacks. While there are a number of upsides, including the convenience and accessibility, most of the disadvantages, such as misinformation, have been solved by governments.