Plugging into the world

Media technology has made great strides, particularly in the last 100 years. But nothing probably comes close to rivaling the advent of the Internet. With the click of a button, the Internet can powerfully leverage one's ability to find, manage and share information. Never before in human history has such a valuable resource been available to so many people and changed how the world communicates.

People often mistake the Internet and Wide World Web as being one in the same with interchangeable names. However, they are wrong. According to the Web site, www.webopedia.com, the Internet is a global data communication system; the Web is one of the services that communicate via the Internet. E-mail, online chats, Voice Over Internet, fax, and Podcasts are also services using the Internet.

More than 100 countries are linked into the Internet, which allows exchanges of data, news and opinions. The Internet has made it possible for people halfway around the world to connect by words as well as pictures and video. Businesses can communicate more quickly and efficiently with E-mail, and video conferencing allows a company in the United States to have a business meeting with a company in Australia or Japan with never having to get on an airplane. Web sites on the Internet make it possible for people to catch up on a missed episode of their favorite TV show, and services now deliver rental movies right to a customer's computer. You can shop on the Internet and never leave your home. The Internet has also advanced education opportunities, replacing the old-fashioned correspondence classes, and in some cases traditional classrooms. Online learning lets students from around the world communicate with each other in an electronic classroom.

Advertising on the Internet has been slow, but it is gaining ground. And while newspapers offer partial editions online, advertising on those sites do pay the bills. Print newspapers still continue to make the bulk of the income for those companies. The largest portion of the Internet's target audience is likely to be younger people who have grown up with surfing the Web and blogging. However, the Internet is very popular with Baby Boomers, who have discovered its benefits of using it as a social network to reconnect with long lost friends. It also continues to become increasingly popular among seniors, who like to use it to stay connected with family.

So, where will the Internet take us in the future? Who knows, but step by step, we're moving closer to that once popular space-age family, The Jetsons.