The Internet is probably the most significant technological advancement in modern times. What started as a rudimentary system developed rapidly to become a sophisticated communication tool that connects people all over the globe. Modern people often have a tough time imagining life without the Internet. Learn more about how the Internet functions today and its history with these facts.
6 Internet Facts
1. The Internet has been in use since the 1960s. (Source)
The Internet was not always widely available to the public, so many people don’t realize how long ago research began on the technology that led to the Internet. The Internet began as the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, which allowed sharing research among government workers. It was also intended to let the Department of Defense communicate covertly without interruption. The origins of the Internet began with the intent of making two computers communicate with each other.
2. The Internet transformed dating and romantic relationships. (Source)
Each generation has a greater majority of people saying they use online dating as the primary way to meet potential partners and set up dates. One of the most popular dating sites is Match.com. It’s estimated that 1 million babies have been born to parents who met on Match.com.
3. More than half the population of the world uses the Internet. (Source)
Over sixty percent of the world’s population uses the Internet, and although different populations tend to use it for different purposes, it remains a fact that more than half of us rely on an Internet connection daily. Wi-Fi is about 30 years old, which highlights how quickly Internet technology has advanced to today’s capabilities.
4. Broadband availability is key to high Internet speeds. (Source)
When the Internet first became available to the public, the average speed in America was 14.4 Kb/s. That means it would have taken nearly 34 hours to download the film, “The Dark Knight.” Today’s speeds are more like 214 Mb/s. That’s only four minutes to download “The Dark Knight.” What a tremendous increase in speed!
5. Social media dominates Internet use worldwide. (Source)
Studies show that 92% of Internet netizens use social media platforms daily. In 2022, 375,000 new social media users joined daily. It’s clear that this might be the most popular way to use the Internet. The evolution of different platforms has helped contribute to this use. For example, many young people say they search for queries in TikTok instead of Google, preferring the video answer format to links to text.
6. 200 billion emails are sent every day. (Source)
This number may be surprising, given that social media has stepped into fulfilling many of our messaging needs, but nevertheless, millions of emails are sent every minute. Unfortunately, a sizable portion of these emails will likely go through your spam filter and end up in the junk folder. Computer salesman Gary Thuerk can be blamed for the first piece of spam mail, which he sent to about 600 people to advertise what he was selling.
Featured image photo credit: Lucent_Designs_dinoson20 from Pixabay.
