Welcome to the digital world
The twenty first century: the Internet age
The Internet began entering public consciousness back in the 1990s and has grown to become one of the most important tools in people’s lives. It affects the way we shop, study, work and even communicate with each other. It’s the most significant invention since the engine.
A quarter of the world’s entire population use internet services, with the majority of people in Europe and the US hooked up to the web virtually 24/7. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter mean that we are beginning to communicate with each other in entirely new ways with people engaged in real-time conversations at all hours of the day.
Today we can sit in our living rooms and watch a football match whilst having a discussion about it with a large group of people who all happen to sitting in their own living rooms in different countries around the world. People now play video games online from their bedrooms in London against an adversary who could be living in Tokyo.
For thousands of us the internet has taken control of how we do business, receive news and entertainment and organise our social lives. Meanwhile the freedom and ease of access to news continues to frighten governments around the world, as they see themselves losing control of the flow of information.
There’s no doubt that not everything the Internet brings has been entirely healthy. Giving society freedom to exchange limitless information, film and music has seen an increase in consumption of pornography and has cost the entertainment industries millions in lost revenue as people swap stuff online for free. But overall there can be little doubt that the chance to enrich our lives has been greatly increased by the wide range of social and educational activities now available completely free for all at the point of use.