One of the problems is that there is a tendency for the 'web' to be a significant part of a general dumbing down of previously erudite people. We see, particularly in America, communications being reduced to sound bites and smart arse rejoinders. Now there is nothing wrong with smart arse comments and nothing wrong with sound bites providing that they complement and do not take the place of, reasoned and intelligent discussion. I listed a few of America's best journos. Would you rather read them or the ramblings of a trainee chemist from small town America, whose mother just bought him a computer but never had him sufficiently well educated to formulate a cogent argument.
Certainly there is a place for the internet, I would never suggest otherwise, but it must always be an 'as well as' and never an 'instead of'.