Internet and Society

Introduction

The internet is a very big part of living in today's times. It also makes sense why it is, it is really easy to access for most parts of the world, all you really need need is a computer. Also there is close to limitless information is stored of the internet, this makes people's opportunities and knowledge close to limitless as well with the help of the internet. My essay will be answering these prompts: How is the Internet making a “Global Impact” on society, how does the Internet vary from country to country, the history of the Internet, thoughts about controversies of the Internet throughout history, and where data scientists, theorists, and yourself thinks the Internet is headed into the future.

How is the Internet making a “Global Impact” on society?

The risk of isolation, alienation, and withdrawal from society is usually the risks that you hear about the internet that the media reports. However the internet does not do either of those things. The internet ‘actually increases sociability, civic engagement, and the intensity of family and friendship relationships, in all cultures,” according to Manuel Castells of technologyreview.com. Manuel Castells believes that due to the “Digital Revolution”, the world with internet is now forming “Me-centered society,” this means that people are now focusing on on individual growth. This will cause a decline in the community “understood in terms of space, work, family, and ascription in general,”(Castells 3). However Manuel presumes that this isn't a bad thing that will lead to a crumble in communities and relationships. He states that this change in our community by the internet will make people focus on “individual interests, values, and projects,”(Castells 3). One piece of evidence of this currently happening is the increase of internet users on social networking sites instead of emails. Social networking users passed email users around July 2009, and time spent of social networking sites surpassed time spent of emails around November 2007. One other instance where the internet changes our community not for the worse is if you want to hangout with a friend, but you’re too lazy to get out of your bed. Now you can just video call each other, it would barely take any time to set up and it’s practically like hanging out and talking in real life. This can save you the hassle of getting up and finding a place to meet and the travel time to get there for the both of you. Overall our relationships, values, interests, and community won’t really change due to the digital revolution, it will just cause people to become more individualized.

How does the Internet vary from country to country?

Available access to the internet is more prominent in countries with advanced economies. According to pewglobal.org The US is the leading country with the most usage of the internet with a regional median of 89% of the adult population at least occasionally using it, it also counts adults who report owning a smartphone. It is 80% for Europe, 72% for the Middle East, 64% in latin America, 58% for Asia/Pacific, and Africa at 25%. There are about 30 more countries listed of the site, but it would take forever to list all of them. Overall with all the other countries the global median is 67%. As you can see about 33% of the world still doesn't have access have access to the internet. Even though internet availability is lower in less economically developed countries, it still will continue to grow over the next decades.

History of the Internet

The US military and scientists were concerned about an event where telephone systems are damaged by a soviet attack. They feared that if it is damaged it would destroy their method of long distance communication. According to history.com in 1962 “named J.C.R. Licklider proposed a solution to this problem: a “galactic network” of computers that could talk to one another,”(History.com editors 4). This will allow long distance communication even if the telephone systems were destroyed. In 1965 a different scientist from M.I.T developed a way of how to send information through computers. The method was called “packet switching”. The method broke data into blocks (packets) and then sending it to a destination. In 1969 ARPA developed another method of transferring data; the method was called “node to node” it allowed computers to communicate with one another. 4 computers were connected by 1969. In 70 to 73 they added The University of Hawaii's ALOHAnet, London’s University College and the Royal Radar Establishment in Norway.

Then around the end of the 70's a man named Vinton Cerf created a way for all of the computers of all the worlds mini-networks to communicate with one another. However the internet was changed again in 1991 by another man named Tim Berners-Lee he created a way for the web to be able to store and view information instead of it just being a place for sending and receiving files. He was the man that provided the main piece that created the internet today, this wouldn't have been possible with all the other people who developed the early stages.

How the internet is headed in the future

I believe we have reached our peak in technology which includes the internet. However some people think we are not, and have predictions of how the internet will affect and change our lives in the future. According to dospeedtest.com 3 big predictions will come to pass for how the internet will change from now to the future. The first is that There will be over 5,000,000,000 internet users by 2020. Our current population is a little bit over 7 billion so 5 billion people using the internet is very shocking. A second prediction is that everything we do of the internet will be stored in the cloud. This year the cloud has generated over 45 billion dollars in revenue this year, and it will continue to expand because of it’s benefit of being able to save and re access everything you do of the internet. The last prediction is that the internet will become more eco-friendly. In other words internet companies such as Xfinity, AT&T, and more will start to get power from a more renewable energy source. Those the 3 big predictions for the internet of tomorrow.

Conclusion

The internet is a very big part of living today. It has shaped our society, communities, relationships, and ourselves, Not for the worse but for the better. The internet will continue to shape people today by allowing us to put more individual values in front of us. The internet started from a small seed and was planted in the roots of society now it has grown to a tree and it will continue to grow throughout the next years, decades, or centuries. 

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