The internet has been the most significant technological invention of the past century. Not just the past century but it probably has been the biggest milestone humanity has been able to achieve ever since its existence. This statement isn’t wrong considering the huge amounts of benefits the internet in various fields has provided us in different fields of life.
From communication to data sharing, everything has become so quick and distances don’t even matter anymore, all thanks to the internet. That is why it is also said that the internet has made the world a global village where everyone is connected to each other no matter the distance or place. Not only for communication but many other aspects of life have been influenced by the internet. This is because it is a flexible technology that is able to seamlessly integrate into all walks of life.
From work-related aspects to entertainment activities anyone can witness the inclusion of the internet. As most of our corporate and business infrastructure have gone online. Similarly, most of our entertainment activities like streaming shows and movies, watching videos on YouTube and other platforms, and even online multiplayer gaming, all are conducted over the internet.
Apart from all this and specifically after the pandemic, the education system has also gone online through online classes and exams. These are a few major examples of how the internet has gripped today’s society, and today we are going to shed light on various aspects of life that have been transformed ever since the internet was added into them. But in order to understand this level of integration first, we have to look into the fact that how did we reach this state of internet dependence.
Back in the day internet was a luxury and was solely restricted to a certain group of entities. These entities ranged from high-profile governmental departments and military agencies, universities, and big corporate organizations.
It wasn’t until the 90s that the internet was commercialized and came within the reach of the average citizen. Still being in reach doesn’t mean it was available everywhere. In the start, the infrastructure of the internet was limited due to which the cost was also high. With the passage of time, many telecom giants saw the potential of the internet and started enhancing the internet footprint to more and more areas which in turn reduced the cost of the internet.
Today more than 50 percent of the world’s population has access to the internet and the only reason behind this change is that the internet has been accessible in most parts of the world and that too at very affordable costs. Even in the United States, the price of the internet has reduced significantly. One such example of this can be seen in Suddenlink packages for the internet. Suddenlink is a brand that is serviceable in more than 10 states and offers speeds up to 1Gig for the internet, yet, their prices are quite economical even for high-speed tiers.
Table of Contents
Importance of the Internet in various fields during Pandemic
Although the internet was always an important part of society still a significant chunk of people considered it a luxury and a fancy gimmick, these were mostly people of old age who used to stay away from the internet. However, this mindset was completely changed when the pandemic struck. As people were stuck in their houses and were unable to perform daily essential tasks like going to their workplaces and educational institutes. In these desperate times, the internet appeared as a savior of mankind and took the whole world’s infrastructure on its shoulders. This new age of the internet saw all the people of the world working over the internet, getting an education online, and staying connected with their loved ones over the web.
These activities refuted all the claims of the internet being a luxury, as many governments included the internet as an essential service and started providing grants to people so they can remain connected to the internet. And people who were first dismissive of the importance of the internet were the first ones to get the connections.
Inclusion of Internet in Different Aspects of Life- Internet in Various Fields
The Internet has significantly modernized various aspects of our daily life and here we will be talking about some of those fields where there has been a drastic change because of the internet.
Education- Internet in Various Fields
The Internet has done marvels for the field of education. Even before the pandemic, the internet was a huge part of the education system as countless remote learning programs were running over the web that allowed students to get an education online while living in distant parts of the world. However, ever since the pandemic the whole education system has gone online due to the closure of schools and colleges.
Now classes are conducted over the internet syllabus, relevant books, and study material is shared online with the students, today even exams are being conducted online. Moreover, many institutes have launched remote courses that allow students from all parts of the world to study in prestigious institutes and get certifications while staying at home.
Work and Business
Businesses all over the world were already utilizing the internet to connect to their relevant customers worldwide. E-commerce is a huge industry and there are giants like Amazon who are using the internet to sell products to millions of customers worldwide. Apart from Amazon freelancing is another major earning aspect in which people offer their expertise and services to clients all over the world.
The Internet has allowed people to directly connect to potential customers and clients. Apart from that, all the corporate sector is also working online after the pandemic, now a new trend of work from home has been introduced which is also completely based over the web.
Entertainment
The entertainment industry has been the biggest beneficiary of the internet. Today the trend of cord-cutting is on the rise in which people are ditching their standard cable subscriptions in favor of over the web-based mediums like streaming platforms and internet-based live TV services. Online games are also a part of the web-based entertainment segment that consists huge amount of gamers.
Moreover, after the pandemic when cinemas were closed, the internet-based streaming services were also the main platforms where new movies were being released. The inclusion of the internet in the entertainment industry can be figured out just by looking at the active subscriber base of the biggest online streaming platform Netflix which stands at more than 220 million today. This is just the user base of one streaming platform and there are countless others like it. Plus the user base of other online entertainment mediums like live TV and online games are not included in these stats.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the internet has been a huge influence on our lives. This is evident from the fact that the amount of modernization that we discussed in these above-mentioned fields is incredible, to say the least. And these are just a few aspects of life the internet has touched. While on the other hand, countless others fields are also there which will require thousands of articles like these to cover.