Is the internet really as unsafe as we think?

The Internet is a very broad topic to place a finger on but maybe that’s the point. My whole life has been around the internet. It is hard to imagine my life without it, people say that too much internet consumption will rot your brain. I say the more the better, there is so much information and entertainment to be gained from the internet but there is also a lot of things that are just completely messed up. 

One of my first big experiences on the internet was YouTube. I would sit down and stare at my phone for hours non-stop. It was just so entertaining and interesting. When I was younger I was not allowed to play the game Grand Theft Auto. So what I used to do is watch YouTube videos of other people playing the game just to get the thrill and excitement I could not get from playing the game. I also enjoy watching twitch streams especially gaming ones or even just funny ones like some podcasts I have seen before. We all have things that we love watching on YouTube and social media but what about the videos we want to see but cannot. This dates me back to the week we did on censorship in movies and still makes me question why are we not able to choose exactly what we want to see. Do you think we should be able to censor our own feeds on our internet platforms?  

One of my favorite ways to consume the internet is through online gaming. I was never much of a gamer but I remember when Fortnite first became popular and my cousin talked me into playing the game after I spent months trashing the game because I thought it was not interesting. When he finally convinced me to play with him once I thought it was amazing. I would play video games with him for hours and it was a bonding moment for us since he lives in Florida and I lived in Rochester. From Fortnite I went to play NBA 2K online to Call of Duty and many others. Online gaming has brought me so much entertainment and joy, do you have any connection like this with gaming or anything else?

We all know the internet is not the safest place on earth with constant catfishes, scammers and frauds. I do not see how people can do online dating. Sites like tinder, bumble are sites that personally I do not see how people can put their trust in a person that you do not know in person without video calling or actually knowing the person is actually who they say they are. Apart from all the bad experiences I have seen other people have, I have also seen good experiences with online dating. I have seen people not only true love but also true friendship. I personally have online friends that I have never met before in person that I have made great connections with on a level that I do not have with people I know in real life. But there is always a thought in my head that what if the person you thought was someone ends up being a completely different person. Do you think online dating and friendships are healthy and why?