According to the Pew Research Center, fifteen percent of Internet users said the web has been bad for society. Six percent of users said it was bad for them personally.



The web turns 25 this year.

Among the respondents reasons: An increasing digital divide between “haves” and “have-nots”; online bullying; using the web to communicate only with like-minded people; its ability to spread misinformation; the loss of privacy; and narcissism.

The Pew Research Center found that 76 percent of respondents said the Internet was good for society. Ninety percent said it was good for them personally. They additionally found that 90% of American adults now use the Internet. That is up from 66 percent in 2005, and a mere 14 percent in 1995.

Additional results indicate that Seventy percent of Internet users said they had been treated kindly or generously by others online. Also, the survey found that roughly two-thirds of people felt that the internet had strengthened their relationships with family and friends.

Half of the respondents said that it would be very hard for them to give up using the internet.