The internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks. It consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. However, the average person only knows the internet as an almost magical way to connect with other people and find information about pretty much anything. Nowadays, the younger generation can't even dare to imagine a world without the internet. It's already so ingrained into our society that it’s seen as something normal and guaranteed. But, how much did the internet change us? What was it like in the beginning? What did the public think of it?
Back in 1962, J.C.R Licklider came up with the concept of the “Galactic Network", a globally interconnected set of computers, through which everyone could quickly access data and programs from any site. This concept is partially what made possible a very successful public demonstration of the ARPANET (a still primitive internet) by Bob Kahn in October 1972. Finally, in 1981, access to the ARPANET was expanded when the National Science Foundation founded the Computer Science Network.
As you can probably imagine, the creation of the internet took the world by storm. Our everyday lives forever changed in ways never thought possible. Even though it started as a state-controlled project, it soon spread throughout the whole world, becoming one of the greatest inventions of all time. In 1996 the first survey of internet use counted 40 million users and, in 2013, over 2.5 billion users. Of course, the use of this new magical tool wasn’t completely accepted by everyone in the beginning. As we can still see today, people are easily deceived by false information not only spread by the general citizen but also through different types of media. It’s often misleading intending to scare the population. Eventually, the use of the internet proved to be more beneficial than dangerous. Although it wasn’t of easy access in the beginning, as it spread around the world, more and more people became educated on how to use it.
A way of staying connected emerged. For example, e-mail, created in 1978, became a worldwide form of communication, used for business purposes and to interact with friends or even strangers without having to meet face-to-face. This proved to be useful in many ways but also pretty fun. The teenagers from the 60s and 70s couldn’t even dream of one day being able to talk with their friends at any given time. We can often hear our parents complain about how hard it was to communicate with their friends outside of school.
In the most recent times, social media has also had a huge influence on our society. As another way of communicating, it also provided a constant connection to the whole world. Social media hasn’t only had good effects on the population, it also brought a new way of putting our privacy at risk and an, overall, inappropriate use of it.
New technologies increase the speed of information spread and that opens a fair new share of possibilities for the economy. In these recent years, many studies were made to determine the best way to attract a potential customer, via the internet. Seemingly pointless things such as colors, advertisement design, and text fonts are actually carefully thought out and used in any commercial we see. The power of internet influencers can also be used to make a product relevant and win this battle between businesses.
On the other hand, the internet also impacted the education system greatly. In those days, finding information either for school or just personal interests, was a very hard and tiring task. To top it all, there wasn’t as much available information for the public as we have today. Now, in a matter of seconds, we are bombarded with tons of data that we can easily consult and pick out from. This opened a whole new world of knowledge. We aren’t restricted only by what we learn in school, there’s now a vast set of platforms we can use to get further comprehension in many different topics. We're also able to deepen our culture, improving our level of understanding on many different topics.
Just like everything, the internet brought with it many drawbacks and problems but, at the end of the day, it also had immeasurable importance in our technological development, which allows our society to evolve. Many new doors were opened for us. All we can do now is learn from our mistakes and improve so we can use this technology for the greater good.
Sources:
- https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/the-impact-of-the-internet-on-society-a-global-perspective/