I think the early internet was beneficial until we got to the smartphone era where young people no longer wanted to learn facts or soft skills like reading a map, because they could look up whatever they wanted. The ability to communicate and learn outside of approved media was critical to breaking the information control practiced by the establishment. Gen X was critical in breaking through on this and not following the Boomers in their respect for TV news especially, which was so naive it was almost pathetic. You can still find Boomers who think Walter Cronkite gave them the whole story in an unbiased way. You can still see this in social media, although the younger generations are Boomer like in how easily they are manipulated, not because they are more trusting, but because they don't really know that much.