How The internet Changed The World

We are lucky to live in the time of computer technology and the digital revolution. If you don’t think so, try living of the grid, it’s not easy. It’s hard to say which technologies have been the most important, or influential, in driving our contemporary culture, but the internet is sure to be high on any list. The internet has driven technology and computing to new heights, and its effects, for both good and bad, are numerous. Even with all the liabilities associated with the internet, the advantages and advancements have proven to be far greater.

Roots

The history of the internet is short but never the less amazing. The internet started in the 1960’s as a DARPA military project called ARPANET. It was meant to be a communication avenue to pass sensitive information between the military and government. It was with the advent of computers that the system really showed its value. The internet was designed first to be a closed system, that is only open to those in the network, e.g. scholars, researchers, and government officials.

By the 1980’s the internet had gone public, and as they say the rest is history. Once free enterprise and capitalism entered the internet space the technology and infrastructure skyrocketed. As the home computer became more ubiquitous everyone wanted to be online.

Speed

Speed has always been an issue and as more users began utilizing the internet the tech grew. Early adopters will remember the dial-up process, when users were forced to share the internet time with their phone lines. This was a slow and grueling task accompanied with its own unique annoying sound as the computer struggled to find its connection. Once connected things traveled slowly and the name “snail mail” seemed apt. At these original speeds the internet, for most users, was nothing more than another novelty in a decade full of novelty.

Well all that has changed. In comparison to its beginnings, speeds are super fast now and only getting faster. Consumers are no longer stuck sharing their phone lines, or slow dial-up. There are many alternative high-speed internet systems available depending on your specific needs.

The three main forms of internet delivery today are fiber optic, cable, and satellite. Skyriver high speed internet services show that fiber optics is the fastest and most likely to develop in the future. Cable is still the most ubiquitous and familiar, while satellite is an alternative to land based communications.

Effects

It would be near impossible to list all the past, present and possible future, effects of the internet but its safe to say it has changed the world and ourselves for ever. Here are a few ways in which the internet has changed us and our contemporary landscape.

1. Globalization. The internet has connected the world. With the internet you can instantaneously send a message, or even have a live video chat, with someone else on the other side of the world. People and business found the internet as a cheap and easy way to connect to one another in real time regardless of distance. That is a huge effect.

2. Technology.  The internet has driven the tech revolution. Not just because it has allowed global collaborations, but because it made people want new tech. People wanted new and faster computers, and smart phones, that connected to the web. People wanted access to the web regardless of time or location. This consumer desire to be online, regardless of their time or location, has driven much of the tech we use today.

3. Leisure Time. Leisure time may seem trivial, but it is anything but. Some scientist claim that leisure time is what allowed humans to evolve beyond hunting and gathering, and it was leisure time which drove early human cultural advancement. The internet has changed the way we spend our leisure time. The internet is always on, always ready to be surf and searched. Today when most people have free time they spend it on the internet. This had lead to a plethora of new developments like social networking, e-commerce, online retailers, streaming video, and music. Some of the biggest tech industries in the world are concerned with providing consumers leisure time pleasures.

4. Information Storage. The biggest problem with information is there is no end to it. The internet is responsible for creating more information since its inception than all the rest of human history put together. The amount of new information created on the internet every hour is staggering. All this information needs to be stored and memory is becoming a real problem. Enter technologies like online hosting or cloud storage. Information, and a lot more information, can now be stored online and freeing up computers and devices. This means people can have every song, every movie, every tv show, and every picture they have ever owned at their finger tips. More information then could ever be stored or accessed by any digital device.