25 Years of the Internet: How It Has Changed the Way We Interact
Earlier this year, the internet celebrated its 25th Birthday; an invention which has changed the world forever.
Today, there are more than 600 million websites worldwide, 500 million tweets are sent every day and an estimated 2.4 billion people go online today. People are now able to access information and share things in a way that was not possible in the previous generation. And as a result, the rise of the internet and social media has changed the way we work, the way we live and the way we communicate and make and maintain friendships.
While some may argue that the internet and social media have caused us to be more unsociable, taking us away from the physical world and hiding behind a screen, others believe that it has enhanced our relationships with people. Sociologist, Barry Wellman states:
“Online communication – email, instant messaging, chat rooms, etc. – does not replace more traditional offline forms of contact – face-to-face and telephone. Instead, it adds on to them, increasing the overall volume of contact.”
With so many different ways of communicating, it could be argued that the internet has just increased the overall frequency of communication, allowing us to stay in touch and make social plans with people we already know face to face.
However, the internet has also allowed many people to form completely new relationships with people they never knew and never would have met face-to-face. For instance, the growth of online dating has rocketed – today 33% of couples have met online (which is expected to rise by 70% by 2040) and one million babies have been born from people who met on match.com. Therefore, it is evident that the internet is not only great for communicating with people you already know but also for getting to know people who you never would have necessarily met.
The internet has also changed the way we communicate on a global scale. In Wellman’s terms, we have become “glocalized”. Before the internet, people were restricted to a social network that was just local to them including neighbors, friends, and family members that were just a short distance away. However, the internet has allowed people to maintain relationships that are both local and long-distance. Nowadays, with the increase in smartphones and social media, we can now stay in touch with people wherever we are in the world.
And being able to stay in contact with friends and family on a global basis, has had a massive impact on the way people live. Today, people are much more likely to travel the world, and many are making the bold decision to book their international movers and live the ex-pat lifestyle that they always dreamed of – simply because not being able to keep in contact with friends and family is no longer a barrier to discourage them from traveling and living in a new location.
Today, we can stay in touch with people regardless of location – we no longer need to lose touch with those friends from school, or neighbors who move away – the internet has enabled us to keep friends for life whilst still making lots of new ones that are not just restricted to our local town.
So for those people who believe the internet has turned us into unsociable people that hide behind computer screens all day, which admittedly may be the case for a minority of people, the majority of people see the internet as a way to be more social and a way of communicating with people from all over the world.[/vc_column_text]
Today, there are more than 600 million websites worldwide, 500 million tweets are sent every day and an estimated 2.4 billion people go online today. People are now able to access information and share things in a way that was not possible in the previous generation. And as a result, the rise of the internet and social media has changed the way we work, the way we live and the way we communicate and make and maintain friendships.
While some may argue that the internet and social media have caused us to be more unsociable, taking us away from the physical world and hiding behind a screen, others believe that it has enhanced our relationships with people. Sociologist, Barry Wellman states:
“Online communication – email, instant messaging, chat rooms, etc. – does not replace more traditional offline forms of contact – face-to-face and telephone. Instead, it adds on to them, increasing the overall volume of contact.”
With so many different ways of communicating, it could be argued that the internet has just increased the overall frequency of communication, allowing us to stay in touch and make social plans with people we already know face to face.
However, the internet has also allowed many people to form completely new relationships with people they never knew and never would have met face-to-face. For instance, the growth of online dating has rocketed – today 33% of couples have met online (which is expected to rise by 70% by 2040) and one million babies have been born from people who met on match.com. Therefore, it is evident that the internet is not only great for communicating with people you already know but also for getting to know people who you never would have necessarily met.
The internet has also changed the way we communicate on a global scale. In Wellman’s terms, we have become “glocalized”. Before the internet, people were restricted to a social network that was just local to them including neighbors, friends, and family members that were just a short distance away. However, the internet has allowed people to maintain relationships that are both local and long-distance. Nowadays, with the increase in smartphones and social media, we can now stay in touch with people wherever we are in the world.
And being able to stay in contact with friends and family on a global basis, has had a massive impact on the way people live. Today, people are much more likely to travel the world, and many are making the bold decision to book their international movers and live the ex-pat lifestyle that they always dreamed of- simply because not being able to keep in contact with friends and family is no longer a barrier to discourage them from traveling and living in a new location.
Today, we can stay in touch with people regardless of location – we no longer need to lose touch with those friends from school, or neighbors who move away – the internet has enabled us to keep friends for life whilst still making lots of new ones that are not just restricted to our local town.
So for those people who believe the internet has turned us into unsociable people that hide behind computer screens all day, which admittedly may be the case for a minority of people, the majority of people see the internet as a way to be more social and a way of communicating with people from all over the world.
