Since the first introduction of internet in 1990s, it has become an important tool for modern people today. With the growing use of social networking services (SNS) and smartphones, the use of internet has been increasing as well. There are advantages to using internet daily, but there are many adverse effects. To deal with such side effects, the government and public institutions are drafting policies, but they are still limited and considered inadequate to cope with various adverse effects. Prevailing opinion is that general educational institutions and public organizations other than the government need to work together.
This study aims to learn and analyze the negative effects of internet and provide measures to promote online ethics education to prevent and reduce such effects.
The reasons behind the negative effects are first, people can freely express desires repressed in reality in the virtual world, and second, people have congenital reasons such as 'pleasure system' and the structure of the human brain. Other reasons include the characteristics of cyber space, personal characteristics of users, and social and cultural factors.
The most well-known negative effects include internet addiction, personal information infringement, copyright violation, spread of harmful information, cyber bullying, online fraud, hacking and virus distribution, and online prostitution. Based on the 2011 Online Ethics Culture Analysis Report, the study examined and analyzed the seriousness of these effects and damages.
A survey was conducted with 3,500 internet users (elementary school students and general users), and the results were classified into 5 different categories: abusive comments, distribution of false/unconfirmed information, cyber bullying, personal information leak, and SNS comments. The results showed that most of internet users have experienced above cases or have participated in these activities. It was found that the elementary school students experienced this more than regular users did.
Until now, the government and public organizations strived to prevent and reduce the negative effects of internet but have faced limitations. One of the measures the solve the problems caused by internet is to strengthen the internet ethics education.
Netiquette can be defined as moral standards that is needed to solve ethical issues in the online space. The importance of netiquette education can be summarized as follows. First, with the increasing number of users, each user exercises immense influence in all parts of our lives including politics, economy, society, and culture, and its negative effects is also increasing. Second, temptations of information technology like anonymity, speed, privacy infringement, and minimum investment for maximum effect are causing a great damage. Third, due to the online disinhibition effect, people do or say things that they would not do in reality.
Currently, the online ethics course is provided at elementary, middle, and high schools as an elective or required course in accordance to the 7th educational curriculum. However, the education only includes theoretical teaching, and is very short. And in most of the case, the course is an elective course and not considered mandatory. For these reasons, the effect of providing such education is very insignificant.
Therefore, this study provides a few measures to promote the online ethics education. There are a total of six measures. First, parents should provide online ethics education. Second, schools should promote the online ethics education. Third, the government should promote the online ethics education. Fourth, the current Shut Down System should be realized and regulations should be revised to strengthen its function. Fifth, the online ethics education course should become a required course at schools. Sixth, professional online ethics educators should be fostered. These educators are to act as a cornerstone.
This study analyzed the reasons and current status of negative effects of internet to identify the seriousness. In addition, it also suggests promoting online ethics education as a measure to reduce the negative effects. Considering the situation in Korea, a total of six measures were introduced to promote active online ethics education. I hope this study will be used in practice to eliminate the negative effects of internet and serve as a foundation for future studies.