Can you still imagine living in a world without Internet? Probably not. In the fast-paced society people live in nowadays, it's quite difficult to adjust to a life without such a convenience. True enough; the Internet had somehow dictated the way people deal with their day-to-day activities.
Processes and systems are a lot more integrated and polished because of the Internet. Virtual connections aren't seen as a luxury anymore. Instead, it is a default necessity especially for professionals.
But, have you tried asking about its origins? Let's trace how the need for Internet came about.
No single creator
Experts and scholars advised that the creation of the Internet can't be attributed to one person or organization alone. Reading through the history tells people that it's actually a brainchild of numerous individuals from all over the world.
From the 60's to the 70's, the term Internet was just used to denote computers linked together to form a network. The networks were initially meant to serve scientific and military purposes. It was Tim Berners-Lee, however, who was responsible for creating the "world wide web" which is the basic software used to access and categorize online documents. During this time, "Internet" and "world wide web" mean two separate things. Further developments on the networks and World Wide Web then gave birth to what we now call the Internet.
Need to connect
While the Internet serves many purposes nowadays, it's initial goal is to connect computers. The purpose then expanded to greater heights as people found new needs.
If one would look at a single theme behind the need for the Internet, it's easy to pinpoint that it all boils down to convenience. People found a need for the Internet because of many conveniences such as connection, faster processing of systems, and quicker access to information.
Over time, technological innovations enable people to talk to others who are located in different parts of the world. Although interactions weren't real time at first, however, everything when on thorough enhancements. Today, virtual communication is so close to offline person-to-person conversations.
With the advent of real-time connections, people were also enabled to create, store, and retrieve files and images online. Medium progress showed people using emails as a means to communicate. Later on, the demands of technology became higher with people requiring mobility. This eventually gave rise to the use of mobile devices to get Internet access. The rise of which, removed previous limitations that the virtual world can be accessed only through computers.
Levels of needs
As technology experts see, there seems to be no stopping major technologies such as the Internet. Although the development of the Internet was fast-tracked, there would surely be more to come. As new needs arise, there would be demands for more dynamic Internet options. Eventually, it will be a cycle of development that will continue to loop as long as people find more needs. In time, the Internet might be replaced with a wider network that would further serve demands of changing lifestyles.
Krystine Joy Sitjar has been studying IT processes and developments for years. His articles on Internet trends and processes have been published in many publications both offline and online. Although a self-confessed Internet fanatic, this savvy writer still believes that waking up with your loved one beside you is still the best gift the world and the World Wide Web could offer.
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