Imagine if you wake up tomorrow and came to the find out that Google is no longer up and running. You try to search why, but no matter what search engine you try, you can’t find any leads. Imagine the feeling of helplessness that you might feel then. That exactly how dependent we are on The Internet.
Search engines like the most commonly used, Google and the others like Yahoo, Bing etc are all search engines that we use whenever we are in doubt about anything, or to gather information about a certain product when we want to buy it, or any such trivial queries.
All this has been made possible because of the internet. In today’s date, there might be very few people who do not own a smart phone and fewer people who do not know what internet is, or what it can do.
History
The idea of Internet was first materialized when scientists were still experimenting with the concepts of packet switching. This research then led to the creation of packet switching networks like ARPANET, CYCLADES, the Merit network and a few others.
But the real breakthrough occurred when English scientist, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web or (www) as commonly know it, in 1989. It opened new dimensions in network access, data sharing and information exchange across the globe.
Advantages
The life we are living today, the simplification of certain tasks and communication we have with our friends and family, would not have been possible without the Internet. For example, many a times has it happened that we accidently run into one of our childhood friends on Facebook?
You catch up with each other’s life and are now connected once again. This was possible because of Facebook, which ultimately was possible because of the Internet.
If we didn’t have access to Internet, we might have never had Facebook and might have never even seen that particular friend of your ever again.
Another example we can take is, imagine you are in a new place, for a job or as a tourist on a vacation. Since you have no idea about the place, you immediately whip out your phone and check your location on Google maps and your destination, which is the place you intend to go. Now, Google maps give you a comprehensive explanation, which multiple routes and travel time to the destination.
Without the internet, there would be no Google Maps and you would be stranded in an unknown place, wondering about asking for directions. Thus, we can notice that the Internet has impacted our lives in multiple ways possible.
We can use search engines to make our lives extremely easy, as everything there is in this world is available for us to access through search engines and websites.
We can talk with our loved ones who live far away on Skype, video and audio calling software that uses the internet and enables communication free of charge. You can watch videos from all over the world on YouTube and similar sites.
Disadvantages
Though the number benefits are overwhelming, the internet has its own terrible demons. It is used by hackers, a group of technically sound people, who exploit the vulnerabilities of a system and access private data, sabotage the system and other illegal and immoral activities.
The terrible crime of child pornography is another curse that the internet has had to deal with. The hidden part of the internet, called the Dark Web, is actively used to carry out illegal activities.
People of often bullied online, termed as Cyber bullying. Such activities place tremendous pressure on the emotionally weak and make them take drastic steps when they are unable to cope with the anxiety.
As you now know, the Internet is an inseparable part of human life in the current age. Every activity we perform has something to do with the Internet one way or the other, directly or indirectly. Every individual, from every corner of the world is connected when they use the internet.
The world would come to a standstill if the Internet somehow seized to exist. Though this is a highly unlikely scenario, it does make us wonder how much we humans are now dependent on technology that we created.
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