The Internet And Its Impact On Society

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorUniversity, Bachelor's January 2002

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"Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive"Ã¯Â¿Â½"ÃÂ¦ No, it's not superman, it's the Internet. The Internet has been around for a good amount of time and has shaped, but affected today's society a great deal. For some, it's very hard to understand the Internet and how it works, but by the end of this paper I guarantee that you will fully understand it. The wide variety of things the Internet is capable of doing is pretty fascinating. The past, present and future of the Internet demonstrates that it's an amazing creation that has positively impacted society.

The history of the Internet goes back a few decades ago to around the late 1960's and the early 1970's. ARPANET, the network that became the basis for the Internet was created in 1969. That was the first real boost of the Internet and its creation. What the Internet is is simply a network or networks.

A more detailed definition of the Internet is a special type of database system which objects can be linked to each other. It is made up of thousands of separate computers (servers) that are linked together. They are linked using high-speed channels, which allows the information to be transmitted from one computer to the next. The fathers of the Internet are Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn. They are two well-known men throughout the world. Another well-known man is Ted Nelson, a man who invented the word "hypertext"Ã¯Â¿Â½, but the most well-known man relating to the Internet would be Time Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web (WWW).

The Internet simply works like this. It works upon a "packet switching principle"Ã¯Â¿Â½, which means that it breaks down data into packets and sends them from one computer to another until it reaches its final target.