The Internet is the single-most important technological creation to impact upon society in recent years. Upon initial inspection, one may see only the novelties of email, instant messaging, chat, and web page surfing that operate across the network. Like most complex systems, examining the individual component processes tends not to describe the entire system. One must look to the system as a whole and see how the processes interact with one another. In the case of the Internet, all of the mere novelties mirror aspects of real-world communications. Communication is the transfer of information from one location to another. The Internet provides a unified system for exchanging information between people.
Due to the way the Internet is constructed, under optimal conditions, any point on the network may be considered equal to any other point; there is neither a start nor an end. The Internet sprawls over the entire globe, spanning international and physical boundaries. It forms its own virtual landscape superimposed upon the physical structure to which it is bound; one could call it the newest country, a place without borders where anyone is welcome to become a Netizen (Net citizen). Information flows freely through this world, carrying with it portions of its creator’s culture. The Internet acts as the catalyst to encourage cultural diffusion and unification. With time, the Internet will draw the inhabitants of Earth together into a single civilization.
Society and the environment have both helped and harmed through the rapid growth of the Internet. It draws people together. Families can spend more time with one another, because working individuals can opt to use the Internet to perform their office duties out of their own homes. Relatives that would never think to write a letter could send emails and chat everyday with their distant loved ones. People who share a common interest can become good friends even if they live on opposite sides of the planet. Children are exposed to vast oceans of knowledge; curious by nature, children can satisfy their many questions more directly than by asking a potentially-ignorant parent a question which he or she may not be able to answer. One has the ability to completely mask one’s true physical self and present whatever façade feels right to them; this frees the mind from the body in a small way. Less paper is “wasted” on snail mail and inter-office paperwork due to email. Fewer trips are made to visit storehouses of information such as local libraries, city halls, and courthouses. Purchases can be carpooled; instead of many people driving to their local shops, the same items, when purchased electronically, are delivered en masse via delivery trucks housing hundreds of packages. Less driving means a decreased level of harm done to the environment due to exhaust pollution. Unfortunately, the Internet can be overused as well. The simplicity of communication between beings leads to one choosing text over reality. Text conveys the core information of a conversation, but it lacks the facial contact and body language associated with a flesh and blood meeting between people. Reliance upon Internet-based communications decreases the need for employees to perform menial tasks such as sorting mail, delivering mail, and working in call centers; this leads to a smaller job pool open to individuals with little or no skills. As more information becomes available on the Internet, it becomes increasingly important to become a member of the online world; those not online are cast aside to the opposite end of a new cyber-social rift. The physical body of the Internet, the servers, consumes enormous amounts of electricity and dissipates much heat. In addition, the components of servers contain many harmful chemicals that must be disposed of safely to avoid possible damage to the environment. Many topics such as copyright law, taxation, privacy, and freedom of speech are drawn out of the closet through their interactions with the Internet, and looked at with new eyes, searching for the echoes of the past as heard by modern ears. The Internet weaves its web through many of the institutions of the world, inciting many to change, and others to disappear.
My life has benefited from my use of the Internet. I have kept in contact with friends and family wherever they or I happen to travel. I am a member of an online community of people who share one of my odder interests; such a community with global members could not easily exist without the Internet. The most important aspect of the Internet that has shaped my development is the incredibly cheap and easy access that it provides to any type of knowledge that one could imagine. I am a more curious individual by nature, and when something piques my interest, within minutes, I can be learning more and more about my new fascination. The Internet gives my mind the freedom to wander beyond the physical constraints of my body, and grow without bounds.
The Internet changes the way society works, but society also changes the way the Internet functions. Since its inception, the Internet has propagated like a virus. Originally, only a few people had access to it because it was so small. As more people flocked to it and told their friends about it, the demand for expansion increased exponentially. Like a living human body composed of many tiny living cells, the Internet may be though of as a macroscopic living organism composed of the many people that use it. The Internet and society are intertwined recursively; a change in one causes a change in the other ad infinitum.
The Internet has a very cloudy future, but a few specks of daylight shine through and cast an inspiring light upon the landscape of the present. The commercialization of the Internet will calm down as more pure, unrefined information is exchanged across the network; this type of information does not include private data such as email, but instead includes the mountains of raw sensor data that must be crunched to produce valuable data such as stock trends, environmental stability reports, and financial forecasts. The other major change in store for the Internet is the delivery of a new form of entertainment: a beautiful, persistent, evolving, multi-user 3D experience. This world will be the first functional attempt to give the cyber nation of the Internet a sense of reality. Visiting a location of the Internet won’t mean typing in some string of commands and pressing enter on the keyboard; it will mean traversing the virtual countryside, meeting people along the way, and eventually ending up at one’s place of interest. If the Internet’s past is any indication as to what the future holds in store, then society is in for a intense ride.