What is the Internet?

Can you tell me how tall the tallest person in the world is?

Of course you can; you just need to open up a new tab and make a quick search, “How tall is the tallest person in the world?” Just one click and you’ll get millions of search results in less than a second. That is the power of the internet; it connects you with people, facts, information, places, things all around the world while omitting the space in real life. As David Weinberger, author of “Small Pieces Loosely Joined” puts it, “The Web is a public place completely devoid of space.” No travel time. No distance. Just teleporting from place to place within the network. So what exactly is this internet place that’s not a place but is a place?

I think the internet is where everything, no matter how big or small, makes an impact. It could make an influence the scientific world through the publication of a journal on a database, or it could give you a small chuckle with a meme. The vast width that the internet covers makes it impossible to define “where” the internet is. Although it’s in the confined space of your device, it reaches people across the globe.

The abstract quality of the web also makes it very easy to change. Take, for instance, Wikipedia. millions of hours have been spent changing and editing the page by volunteers, perfecting all the facts, hyperlinks, etc. But it only takes one volunteer to change the facts to false information — intentionally or unintentionally.

Because of the internet’s fluidity, its accuracy is often questioned, causing many people believe that the internet is gradually making people dumber. To be frank, they are partially correct. In Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he states that reading on the internet lowers our ability to think in depth and increases our tendency to skim, changing our daily mental habits. I believe it’s necessary to adapt to the rapidly advancing society, but thinking about how much of an impact the internet has on our daily lives is somewhat frightening. Think about the extent to how much an average person relies on the internet. (If you want an exact percent increase in internet usage, you can do a quick search on the internet.) Can we even function without the internet now?

Yes, almost everyone and everything uses the internet nowadays that it can only become the norm. I admit that I rely heavily on the internet. I use it daily for academics, entertainment, quick facts, social media, and more. In fact, I love watching YouTube, Netflix, Disney, FaceTime-ing friends, all these things that would not have been possible without the internet. Yet, the reliance becomes alarming when it becomes extensive. Have we reached that point yet? What can we define as too much? Is there even a ‘too much’?

But again, would you have been able to quickly figure out that the tallest person in the world was 8 ft 11.1 in tall without the help of the internet?

#Dgst101 (2/7–2/13)