Assignment 2-1

Internet Impact

            It wasn’t that long ago that the best way to communicate with someone outside of your own home was by telephone or postage paid mail.  The only way to rent a movie was by going to the store or to rent a book meant trips to the library. Going to school required transportation to a local building at specific times.  October 24, 1995 would bring the start of an amazing change and inspiring future for generations to come. The invention and creation of the “internet” has brought changes to the way people all around the world live their lives more than anyone could have ever imagined.

                                                   

            This very class would not exist if the internet was not created.  Many of today’s youth are growing up with the internet a required part of their world.  At only 10, my daughter has half of her homework requiring some form of internet usage.  I am only 30; however I have a hard time remembering life without the internet.  To this day everything from my college classes to my job requires the internet.  I work in transportation at a warehouse location for a large retail chain.  All of our load planning, trailer shipments, and store communications are done via email and high speed connected internet service.  I often wonder how these jobs were done prior to such invention.

            The internet is a creation of several minds over decades of research and experiments.  “The first recorded description of the social interactions that could be enabled through networking was a series of memos written by J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in August 1962 discussing his "Galactic Network" concept” (Barry M. Leiner, 2011, Para. 6).  By the 1970’s and 80’s the “enternet” was in use by government and military personnel, though nothing like we now know it.   On October 24, 1995 the Federal Networking Council officially defined the term “Internet” and it has grown and flourished ever since.

           To this day the Internet allows people all around the work quick connection and access to everything from letters (email) to movies and books in a matter of minutes via a simple click of a mouse.  The internet to me is a huge pop culture topic based on this knowledge.  We are living in a time were some generations of people will never adapt to the internet, some have been caught in the middle of it, and others will never live without it.  Where will the internet go, or more importantly, take us?

References

Barry M. Leiner, V. G. (2011). A Brief History of the Internet. Retrieved May 25, 2011, from Internet Society: http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml