I actually completely understand what you are saying. There has definitely been some things about the Internet that are not unquestionably positive. I think to write it off as a universal good is a bit narrow minded. GDP has no value if the gains are shared out unequally (which they are), jobs are great but every technological revolution to date has created more jobs than it has lost (although that might soon be about to change) so the internet isn't unique in that. And the other efficiencies that the internet creates should be held alongside a few of the drawbacks.

Social media has been criticised a lot in psychological studies and aside from keeping in touch with old friends, the benefits to wellbeing and happiness are questionable at best, and at worse it has been blamed for a rise in sleep deprivation, depression and anxiety. There are also claims of it causing a rise in narcissism. In my opinion, social media gives a platform to narcissists more than it creates them, but I do think that checking newsfeeds is addictive to a degree and doesn't ever really cause much lasting gratification for the user.

The proliferation of free information is a difficult one to universally praise too. It is bringing quality journalism to its knees, forcing many newspapers to rely on advertising and clickbait / sponsored content to raise the money that physical sales used to provide. Quality articles tend to get a much wider audience now but nowhere near as wide as a standard cute cat video. And there's a big debate to be had about whether the world needs guardians of information or not. On top of all the free, quality content out there, there is a massive proliferation of popularised bullshit online, to the extent that it can be quite overwhelming for people who haven't been taught to spot bullshit to find out what is actually true. Of course, bullshit has always been around, but a nicely presented falsity is much more likely to gain enormous viral traction online than a vetted and boring truth. This creates a bit of a race to the bottom for some media outlets. Take The Independent newspaper in the UK for example. The paper version has been discontinued, leaving only the Independent Online, which is, relatively speaking, a hive of clickbait tabloid-style cack with a few decent stories thrown in. The paper version used to be pretty high quality.

This spread of ideas from the Internet is both good and bad. Global Islamic terrorism likely wouldn't be anywhere near as consolidated without the Internet (if it could exist as a global movement at all). Mass surveillance in democratic nations, both by governments and corporations (big data / marketing) would be much more difficult without the Internet. And the Internet has made it easier for people to just look for evidence confirming their own beliefs and prejudices rather than see content that challenges them (just as I did when finding sources for my social media claims above). This, I suspect, has a hand in creating the political polarisation we see today. Because of my age and demographic, almost all of the social media posts I see are left-leaning, feel-good guff, which if I hadn't worked in politics would probably be enough to passively radicalise me. If I was part of a conservative Christian demographic, I'd most likely be exposed to a lot more conservative Christian (pro-life, anti-Muslim, anti-climate change) stuff online, which would no doubt go some way towards entrenching my beliefs in that direction.

I have to actively make an effort to search out the truth behind things (which I do because I am interested in current affairs) and that itself is a barrier to entry for many people who just don't care enough to waste valuable time checking if their opinions have a basis in reality. Before the internet, if I had no interest in politics, the chances are I'd not have any strong opinions about it because I'd never really read anything political. Now, it's there and it's unavoidable if you use the internet at all, and it's likely to give false certainty to opinions people rarely bother to verify. But then again, thanks to the internet, I can fact check, I can do my own research, I can read research, blogs, longform current affairs articles and I can vet my own information and make up my own mind.

So yeah, the internet has a lot of benefits, but not everything about it is necessarily, unquestionably good. But it changes and adapts as people realise the shortcomings. See how things like AdBlock have sprung up, the online privacy movement is gaining popularity, there are plenty of fact checking blogs now... the greatest thing about the internet is that it is whatever people want it to be. Now I'm off to watch a video about a panda who did a shit (apparently what happens next is amazing).