Internet

Internet is a large system of interconnected computers and systems around the globe with the primary function of sharing and conveying information among people spread across countries, societies, geographies and any physical barriers. It mainly connected the system of computers across the world through the protocols like TCP/IP.

About Internet

Internet is primarily employed to connect billions of computers, devices, webpages, other content in a seamless manner that is available to every person democratically using the Internet with no differentiation. Internet is the first medium that disperses information in such a democratic manner and the distinctions of nationality or ethnicity or any other barriers are of no use. It all started in the 1960s and the journey has been magnificent. In this blog, we will discuss briefly the History, Success, current status of the Internet as it exists and we feel today. Let’s get started.

History of Internet

The phenomenon of the Internet which we see in our daily lives has a very interesting journey and history. It all began with human curiosity about the aspects of communication as to how to reduce the time and increase efficiency and effectiveness. To understand the historical development of the Internet it is essential to understand what existed before it. Initially, the means of communication was through circuits and then evolved the concept of Packet switching, and when it developed it was thought that time that it is a breakthrough moment and indeed it was. Packet switching is essentially aimed at a better and faster way to transfer data among devices. All this was happening in the 1960s.

Every big development is a total of small steps and movements. The same happened with the Internet too. Packet switching technology led to the development of ARPANET in the United States military. And with this, the first time a group of interconnected computers were able to transfer data between them, at that time it was restricted to military use only and on a large scale it was started to roll out from the late 1980s and almost by mid-1990s Internet was available commercially on public and large scale to the people in the United States and since then it spread to countries and engulfed continents and such has the reach that it is sometimes also touted as the eighth continent of the Globe.

Success

To say the Internet has been successful will be an understatement, it has completely revolutionised the world around us. It has touched every aspect of our lives including Nations, Governments, Societies and has touched every sector including Education, Health, Defence, Communications, almost every single thing. What started with mere packet-switching algorithms and technology has led to this sensation called the Internet. As with any other inventions and discoveries which mankind has found on this planet, the Internet also comes with its share of disadvantages in the way it has changed the Globe. Let’s see some of the advantages and disadvantages that Internet has brought with it.

Advantage and Disadvantage of Internet

Advantages

• The Internet has broken the silos and monopoly of information and knowledge. When Internet had not evolved it was generally believed that the control over the flow and dissemination of knowledge was restricted to some elite groups who yielded power, but this is not the case now, now information is available to people across the geographies and cultures without any differentiation. There is some lacuna too, we will see that later in the Blog as some contend that it is creating an island of knowledge.

• Communication has been one of the revolutionary changes that the Internet has brought in. It has led to truly a Global village and distances hardly matter these days especially with the development of smartphones and internet can be accessed by a handheld device and people, friends, families even though spread over thousand of kilometres have come closer, all this has been possible with the development of the Internet.
  
  
• What Internet has done in essence is that it has diluted the physical boundaries of nation-states and has re-defined the movement of labour people and money all over the world. It has led to a more and more interconnected nature of economies and earlier when the economies of a nation that existed in some silos have narrowed down to a large extent. And what this interconnection has done is that it has allowed the creation of more and more jobs for developing countries. India is one of the most perfect examples of this case. As the economy of India opened up after 1991 and with a large mass of English speaking population, the western world found in India a perfect marketplace to outsource some of the activities that were handled in-house and this has led to an IT revolution in India and has also created more jobs and an emerging middle class that is also attracting more and more businesses from all over the Globe.
  
  
• Several key sectors have undergone a huge and radical change with the emergence of the Internet. Banking as we know is the backbone of any flourishing economy and the Internet has completely changed how banking operates and has led to much better transparency and ease of Business.

Disadvantages

• The Internet has changed societies all over the Globe and with the spurge of information and free flow of ideas it has also led to social unrest and also has been used as the weapons to spread misinformation and that has subsequently led to riots, disruptions and also has completely changed the landscape of existing societies and there have a group of peoples or societies who have not been able to cope up with the changes. 

• One of the major criticism of the Internet as has been said is that it has led to addiction among the population especially in youth and with the overflow and burden of information it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate information from misinformation and has led to spurge of fake news that is harming the societies in a very detrimental way.
  
  
• As banking has completely integrated with online infrastructure, the emergence of the Internet has also changed the nature of crimes. Cybercrime has emerged as one of the potential threats and its sophisticated nature of it has led to severe insecurity among the masses who lack the ability and skills to protect them from such threats. It is not only the case that only the vulnerable people are at risk, the integrity and security of Governments and Nations have been threatened with some of the cyber threats and has been weaponised by some countries to a large extent.

Current Status

With the criticism that the Internet has developed some pockets of islands having the proper access, it is now aggressively pursued by some of the companies to expand the horizons of the Internet and to bring it to the sections of the population where it is not present. Some of the activities in recent days like the Star link project by Tesla is a case in this point. There will be some concerns and those will be addressed as time progresses, but now a common theme has emerged that the Internet holds the future to integrate and bring people closer.

Conclusion

Be it the change in nature of economies, societies, Governments, freedom of expression, fake news, misinformation, etc the idea of the Internet is a contested concept as some feel it is bringing benefits while some argue that it is creating more wedge on the name of interconnection, but whatever be the case no one can deny the fact that it has led to greater empowerment of people all around the Globe and we sincerely hope that all concerns that have been raised upon Internet from ethical to moral to economical aspects will be addressed effectively and the great grand idea and purpose with which internet was launched will be achieved proactively.