I see why the internet is important for life, but why should it be used in school lessons? Where is this “you have to use it in lessons” rooted?

• Multiple aspects can be considered here. For example,
  • Accessing knowledge: 100 years ago, if you saw an unknown plant, you would ask relatives what plant this is. You would lookup the plant in the encyclopedia in your house, in the local library, you would ask specialists. There would be tight limits on how much time you could invest, how many people you could ask. The knowledge in books and of people could be outdated. Now, one would use the Internet, have more information accessible, and with chances of the information to be current. This is also a downside: in some instances nowadays people think regarding knowledge that it's of to not memorize, as the knowledge can easily be looked up on the internet, at any time, using mobile phones.
  • Enabling cooperation: projects like Corona research can just proceed rapidly with information exchange via internet. Imagine all the exchanges happening via letter, taking one or 2 weeks from Japan to Germany: things would be slowed down massively.

We teach skills “excel and microsoft office”, why is “internet knowledge” important?

• Because accessing knowledge on the internet is nowadays essential for life. To look up knowledge, search for work or a flat, to lookup procedures how to recycle trash in the local community where you live, everything. It's also a required for most jobs.
• Also, because the dangers of the internet deserve to be aware of. There is a saying, that when you use something which is free for you, then you are the product. Companies like Facebook and Google providing services “for free” for you have a business model which makes money somewhere else. Understanding these concepts, and then deciding to use - or not use these services is important.

I heard that using tablets in lessons lowers the ability to learn, there is a study. Apples CEO also does not give a smartphone to his children.

• Yes, for example being able to access internet knowledge at any time can prevent people from trying to memorize them. That can be bad when trying to access the knowledge when no internet is available. It can also be bad for “mapping” knowledge between different areas.
• We also see this effect when looking at Kanji learning: 50 years ago, Japanese learned in schools Kanji in drawing them many times, and then also in daily life. The second part to less used nowadays as one is just accessing Kanji on smartphone/computer/tablet, so the drawing skills are getting worse.

The key is to try to use good points of the internet: for example utilize it for online lessons, when for example Corona prevents live lessons in a school. At the same time, try too foresee the downsides of the technology, be aware of it.

There are further downsides or things one should be aware of. The internet and social media provide a market place to say things, not only true but also false things. With this, social media can amplify whatever is said, also untrue things, and for example amplify mobbing.

So much information on the internet.. but what of it can be trusted? Wasn't that better in the past?

• At any time, people had to distinguish what could be trusted, and what not. When a neighbor told you something 100 years ago, you had a hard time to verify. You would ask other people, look at a news paper.
• Nowadays, peer review is a good method. Be suspicious of all information you get (including these sentences here!), question everything, get multiple opinions on each topic, and if a majority believes something that might be an indicator of where the truth is. Some countries censor information on the internet, to decide what their citizens are allowed to hear.
• There is a saying, “you can not solve society problems with technology”. That holds true here: the internet is just extending the problems we always had in society. Everybody can tell what they believe now, on the internet. As a consumers of information, we need to be aware of that.