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Essay on Internet

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The Internet has revolutionized communication, information access, and business operations. It connects people globally, enabling faster and more convenient communication through email, instant messaging, and social media. It democratizes information, providing vast knowledge and resources at our fingertips. The Internet has also transformed businesses, allowing them to reach a global customer base through e-commerce. However, challenges like online privacy and the digital divide remain. Privacy concerns require protection measures, and efforts are needed to bridge the gap in Internet access based on geography and socioeconomic factors. Despite these challenges, the Internet continues to shape our lives, offering immense potential for positive change and advancement. It is a powerful tool that connects people, empowers individuals with knowledge, and provides opportunities for businesses to thrive in the digital era.

The Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives, transforming the way we communicate, access information, and conduct business. It is a vast network of interconnected computers and servers that enables the sharing and exchange of data worldwide.

One of the most significant impacts of the Internet is its ability to revolutionize communication. With the advent of email, instant messaging, and social media platforms, communication has become faster, more convenient, and more accessible. People can connect with each other instantly, regardless of geographical distances. Social media platforms have also provided new avenues for individuals to express themselves, share ideas, and build virtual communities.

Moreover, the Internet has democratized access to information. With a few clicks, anyone can access a wealth of knowledge on almost any topic. Online libraries, databases, and search engines have made information easily accessible, empowering individuals to learn, research, and stay informed. This unprecedented access to information has transformed education, enabling online learning platforms and resources to reach learners across the globe.

In addition to communication and information access, the Internet has revolutionized business operations. E-commerce has witnessed significant growth, allowing businesses to reach a global customer base and conduct transactions online. Online platforms have opened up new opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation, enabling small businesses to thrive and compete on a global scale.

However, the Internet also poses challenges. Online privacy and security have become major concerns, with the risk of data breaches, identity theft, and cybercrime. Safeguarding personal information and practicing responsible online behavior is essential to protect oneself in the digital realm.

Furthermore, the digital divide remains a significant issue. While the Internet has connected billions of people worldwide, there are still disparities in access based on geography, income, and socioeconomic factors. Bridging this divide is crucial to ensure equal opportunities for all.

In conclusion, the Internet has revolutionized communication, information access, and business operations. It has connected people globally, democratized knowledge, and opened up new opportunities. However, challenges like online privacy and the digital divide need to be addressed. The Internet is a powerful tool that has transformed our lives and society, and its continued advancement requires responsible use and efforts to ensure inclusivity and security in the digital age.

Title: The Internet – Connecting the World in the Digital Age

Introduction :

The Internet has emerged as one of the most transformative technologies in human history. It has revolutionized communication, transformed information access, and reshaped the way we conduct business. This essay explores the origins and evolution of the Internet, its impact on communication and information access, the role of the Internet in business and entrepreneurship, as well as its social and cultural implications.

Origins and Evolution of the Internet

The Internet’s origins can be traced back to the 1960s when it was developed as a research project by the United States Department of Defense. Initially known as ARPANET, it was designed to create a decentralized network that could withstand a nuclear attack. Over time, the Internet expanded beyond its military origins, becoming a global network of interconnected computers and servers.

Communication Revolution

The Internet has transformed communication, making it faster, more convenient, and more accessible than ever before. Email, instant messaging, and social media platforms have revolutionized the way people connect and interact. Distance is no longer a barrier, and individuals can communicate in real time across continents. Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, have provided new avenues for self-expression, networking, and building virtual communities.

Information Access and Knowledge Sharing

The Internet has democratized access to information, fundamentally changing the way we seek and share knowledge. Online libraries, databases, and search engines have made a vast amount of information easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Websites, blogs, and online forums serve as platforms for individuals to share their expertise, experiences, and opinions. Online educational platforms have also emerged, offering courses and resources that reach learners across the globe, revolutionizing education and lifelong learning.

The Internet and Business

The Internet has transformed the business landscape, offering new opportunities and challenges. E-commerce has witnessed tremendous growth, allowing businesses to reach a global customer base and conduct transactions online. Online marketplaces, such as Amazon and eBay, have revolutionized retail, providing convenience and variety to consumers. Moreover, the Internet has enabled small businesses and entrepreneurs to compete on a global scale, as they can establish an online presence and reach customers without the need for physical storefronts.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The Internet has fueled entrepreneurship and innovation, empowering individuals to turn their ideas into viable businesses. Online platforms and marketplaces have facilitated the launch of startups, creating a fertile ground for innovation and creativity. Crowdfunding platforms have democratized access to funding, allowing entrepreneurs to secure capital from a global community of investors. The Internet has also facilitated collaboration and knowledge sharing among entrepreneurs, enabling them to learn from each other and form strategic partnerships.

Social and Cultural Implications

The Internet has had profound social and cultural implications. It has connected people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, fostering a global exchange of ideas and perspectives. Social media has become a powerful tool for social and political movements, enabling grassroots activism and mobilization. However, the Internet has also given rise to challenges such as cyberbullying, misinformation, and the erosion of privacy. Society is grappling with issues related to digital citizenship, online ethics, and the balance between freedom of expression and responsible behavior.

Conclusion :

The Internet has revolutionized communication, transformed information access, and reshaped the business landscape. It has connected people globally, facilitated knowledge sharing, and fostered entrepreneurship and innovation. However, challenges related to privacy, cybersecurity, and the digital divide remain. As the Internet continues to evolve, it is crucial to strike a balance between the opportunities it presents and the responsibilities it entails. The Internet has become an integral part of our lives, and navigating its impact requires thoughtful engagement, ethical practices, and continuous adaptation to the ever-changing digital landscape.

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The Internet has turned our existence upside down. It has revolutionized communications, to the extent that it is now our preferred medium of everyday communication. In almost everything we do, we use the Internet. Ordering a pizza, buying a television, sharing a moment with a friend, sending a picture over instant messaging. Before the Internet, if you wanted to keep up with the news, you had to walk down to the newsstand when it opened in the morning and buy a local edition reporting what had happened the previous day. But today a click or two is enough to read your local paper and any news source from anywhere in the world, updated up to the minute.

The Internet itself has been transformed. In its early days—which from a historical perspective are still relatively recent—it was a static network designed to shuttle a small freight of bytes or a short message between two terminals; it was a repository of information where content was published and maintained only by expert coders. Today, however, immense quantities of information are uploaded and downloaded over this electronic leviathan, and the content is very much our own, for now we are all commentators, publishers, and creators.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Internet widened in scope to encompass the IT capabilities of universities and research centers, and, later on, public entities, institutions, and private enterprises from around the world. The Internet underwent immense growth; it was no longer a state-controlled project, but the largest computer network in the world, comprising over 50,000 sub-networks, 4 million systems, and 70 million users.

The emergence of  web 2.0  in the first decade of the twenty-first century was itself a revolution in the short history of the Internet, fostering the rise of social media and other interactive, crowd-based communication tools.

The Internet was no longer concerned with information exchange alone: it was a sophisticated multidisciplinary tool enabling individuals to create content, communicate with one another, and even escape reality. Today, we can send data from one end of the world to the other in a matter of seconds, make online presentations, live in parallel “game worlds,” and use pictures, video, sound, and text to share our real lives, our genuine identity. Personal stories go public; local issues become global.

The rise of the Internet has sparked a debate about how online communication affects social relationships. The Internet frees us from geographic fetters and brings us together in topic-based communities that are not tied down to any specific place. Ours is a networked, globalized society connected by new technologies. The Internet is the tool we use to interact with one another, and accordingly poses new challenges to privacy and security.

Information technologies have wrought fundamental change throughout society, driving it forward from the industrial age to the networked era. In our world, global information networks are vital infrastructure—but in what ways has this changed human relations? The Internet has changed business, education, government, healthcare, and even the ways in which we interact with our loved ones—it has become one of the key drivers of social evolution.

The changes in social communication are of particular significance. Although analogue tools still have their place in some sectors, new technologies are continuing to gain ground every day, transforming our communication practices and possibilities—particularly among younger people. The Internet has removed all communication barriers. Online, the conventional constraints of space and time disappear and there is a dizzyingly wide range of communicative possibilities. The impact of social media applications has triggered discussion of the “new communication democracy.”

The development of the Internet today is being shaped predominantly by instant, mobile communications. The mobile Internet is a fresh revolution. Comprehensive Internet connectivity via smartphones and tablets is leading to an increasingly mobile reality: we are not tied to any single specific device, and everything is in the cloud.

People no longer spend hours gazing at a computer screen after work or class; instead, they use their mobile devices to stay online everywhere, all the time.

Anyone failing to keep abreast of this radical change is losing out on an opportunity.

Communication Opportunities Created by the Internet

The Internet has become embedded in every aspect of our day-to-day lives, changing the way we interact with others. This insight struck me when I started out in the world of social media. I created my first social network in 2005, when I was finishing college in the United States—it had a political theme. I could already see that social media were on the verge of changing our way of communicating, helping us to share information by opening up a new channel that cuts across conventional ones.

That first attempt did not work out, but I learned from the experience.I get the feeling that in many countries failure is punished too harshly—but the fact is, the only surefire way of avoiding failure is to do nothing at all. I firmly believe that mistakes help you improve; getting it wrong teaches you how to get it right. Creativity, hard work, and a positive attitude will let you achieve any goal.

In 2006, after I moved to Spain, I created Tuenti. Tuenti (which, contrary to widespread belief, has nothing to do with the number 20; it is short for “tu entidad,” the Spanish for “your entity”) is a social communication platform for genuine friends. From the outset, the idea was to keep it simple, relevant, and private. That’s the key to its success.

I think the real value of social media is that you can stay in touch from moment to moment with the people who really matter to you. Social media let you share experiences and information; they get people and ideas in touch instantly, without frontiers. Camaraderie, friendship, and solidarity—social phenomena that have been around for as long as humanity itself—have been freed from the conventional restrictions of space and time and can now thrive in a rich variety of ways.

Out of all the plethora of communication opportunities that the Internet has opened up, I would highlight the emergence of social media and the way they have intricately melded into our daily lives. Social media have changed our personal space, altering the way we interact with our loved ones, our friends, and our sexual partners; they have forced us to rethink even basic daily processes like studying and shopping; they have affected the economy by nurturing the business startup culture and electronic commerce; they have even given us new ways to form broad-based political movements.

The Internet and Education

The Internet has clearly impacted all levels of education by providing unbounded possibilities for learning. I believe the future of education is a networked future. People can use the Internet to create and share knowledge and develop new ways of teaching and learning that captivate and stimulate students’ imagination at any time, anywhere, using any device. By connecting and empowering students and educators, we can speed up economic growth and enhance the well-being of society throughout the world. We should work together, over a network, to build the global learning society.

The network of networks is an inexhaustible source of information. What’s more, the Internet has enabled users to move away from their former passive role as mere recipients of messages conveyed by conventional media to an active role, choosing what information to receive, how, and when. The information recipient even decides whether or not they want to stay informed.

We have moved on from scattergun mass communication to a pattern where the user proactively selects the information they need.

Students can work interactively with one another, unrestricted by physical or time constraints. Today, you can use the Internet to access libraries, encyclopedias, art galleries, news archives, and other information sources from anywhere in the world: I believe this is a key advantage in the education field. The web is a formidable resource for enhancing the process of building knowledge.

I also believe the Internet is a wonderful tool for learning and practicing other languages—this continues to be a critical issue in many countries, including Spain, and, in a globalized world, calls for special efforts to improve.

The Internet, in addition to its communicative purposes, has become a vital tool for exchanging knowledge and education; it is not just an information source, or a locus where results can be published, it is also a channel for cooperating with other people and groups who are working on related research topics.

The Internet and Privacy and Security

Another key issue surrounding Internet use is privacy. Internet users are becoming more sensitive to the insight that privacy is a must-have in our lives.

Privacy has risen near the top of the agenda in step with an increasing awareness of the implications of using social media. Much of the time, people started to use social media with no real idea of the dangers, and have wised up only through trial and error—sheer accident, snafus, and mistakes. Lately, inappropriate use of social media seems to hit the headlines every day. Celebrities posting inappropriate comments to their profiles, private pictures and tapes leaked to the Internet at large, companies displaying arrogance toward users, and even criminal activities involving private-data trafficking or social media exploitation.

All this shows that—contrary to what many people seem to have assumed—online security and privacy are critical, and, I believe, will become even more important going forward. And, although every user needs privacy, the issue is particularly sensitive for minors—despite attempts to raise their awareness, children still behave recklessly online.

I have always been highly concerned about privacy. On Tuenti, the default privacy setting on every user account is the highest available level of data protection. Only people the user has accepted as a “friend” can access their personal details, see their telephone number, or download their pictures. This means that, by default, user information is not accessible to third parties. In addition, users are supported by procedures for reporting abuse. Any user can report a profile or photograph that is abusive, inappropriate, or violates the terms of use: action is taken immediately. Security and privacy queries are resolved within 24 hours.

We need to be aware that different Internet platforms provide widely different privacy experiences. Some of them are entirely open and public; no steps whatsoever are taken to protect personal information, and all profiles are indexable by Internet search engines.

On the other hand, I think the debate about whether social media use should be subject to an age requirement is somewhat pointless, given that most globally active platforms operate without age restrictions. The European regulatory framework is quite different from the United States and Asian codes. Companies based in Europe are bound by rigorous policies on privacy and underage use of social media. This can become a competitive drawback when the ground rules do not apply equally to all players—our American and Japanese competitors, for instance, are not required to place any kind of age constraint on access.

Outside the scope of what the industry or regulators can do, it is vital that users themselves look after the privacy of their data. I believe the information is the user’s property, so the user is the only party entitled to control the collection, use, and disclosure of any information about him or herself. Some social networks seem to have forgotten this fact—they sell data, make it impossible to delete an account, or make it complex and difficult to manage one’s privacy settings. Everything should be a lot simpler and more transparent.

Social networks should continue to devote intense efforts to developing self-regulation mechanisms and guidelines for this new environment of online coexistence to ensure that user information is safe: the Internet should be a space for freedom, but also for trust. The main way of ensuring that social media are used appropriately is awareness. But awareness and user education will be of little use unless it becomes an absolute requirement that the privacy of the individual is treated as a universal value.

The Internet and Culture

As in the sphere of education, the development of information and communication technologies and the wide-ranging effects of globalization are changing what we are, and the meaning of cultural identity. Ours is a complex world in which cultural flows across borders are always on the rise. The concepts of space, time, and distance are losing their conventional meanings. Cultural globalization is here, and a global movement of cultural processes and initiatives is underway.

Again, in the cultural arena, vast fields of opportunity open up thanks to online tools. The possibilities are multiplied for disseminating a proposal, an item of knowledge, or a work of art. Against those doomsayers who warn that the Internet is harming culture, I am radically optimistic. The Internet is bringing culture closer to more people, making it more easily and quickly accessible; it is also nurturing the rise of new forms of expression for art and the spread of knowledge. Some would say, in fact, that the Internet is not just a technology, but a cultural artifact in its own right.

In addition to its impact on culture itself, the Internet is enormously beneficial for innovation, which brings progress in all fields of endeavor—the creation of new goods, services, and ideas, the advance of knowledge and society, and increasing well-being.

The Internet and Personal Relationships

The Internet has also changed the way we interact with our family, friends, and life partners. Now everyone is connected to everyone else in a simpler, more accessible, and more immediate way; we can conduct part of our personal relationships using our laptops, smart phones, and tablets.

The benefits of always-online immediate availability are highly significant. I would find a long-distance relationship with my life partner or my family unthinkable without the communication tools that the network of networks provides me with. I’m living in Madrid, but I can stay close to my brother in California. For me, that is the key plus of the Internet: keeping in touch with the people who really matter to me.

As we have seen, the Internet revolution is not just technological; it also operates at a personal level, and throughout the structure of society. The Internet makes it possible for an unlimited number of people to communicate with one another freely and easily, in an unrestricted way.

Just a century ago, this was unimaginable. An increasing number of couples come together, stay together, or break up with the aid—or even as a consequence—of social communication tools. There are even apps and social networks out there that are purposely designed to help people get together for sex.

Of course, when compared to face-to-face communication, online communication is severely limited in the sense impressions it can convey (an estimated 60 to 70 percent of human communication takes place nonverbally), which can lead to misunderstandings and embarrassing situations—no doubt quite a few relationships have floundered as a result. I think the key is to be genuine, honest, and real at all times, using all the social media tools and their many advantages. Let’s just remember that a liar and a cheat online is a liar and a cheat offline too.

The Internet and Social and Political Activism

Even before the emergence of social media, pioneering experiments took place in the political sphere—like  Essembly , a project I was involved in. We started to create a politically themed platform to encourage debate and provide a home for social and political causes; but the social networks that have later nurtured activism in a new way were not as yet in existence.

Research has shown that young people who voice their political opinions on the Internet are more inclined to take part in public affairs. The better informed a citizen is, the more likely they will step into the polling booth, and the better they will express their political liberties. The Internet has proved to be a decisive communication tool in the latest election campaigns. It is thanks to the Internet that causes in the social, welfare, ideological, and political arenas have been spoken up for and have won the support of other citizens sharing those values—in many cases, with a real impact on government decision making.

The Internet and Consumer Trends

New technologies increase the speed of information transfer, and this opens up the possibility of “bespoke” shopping. The Internet offers an immense wealth of possibilities for buying content, news, and leisure products, and all sorts of advantages arise from e-commerce, which has become a major distribution channel for goods and services. You can book airline tickets, get a T-shirt from Australia, or buy food at an online grocery store. New applications support secure business transactions and create new commercial opportunities.

In this setting, it is the consumer who gains the upper hand, and the conventional rules and methods of distribution and marketing break down. Consumers’ access to information multiplies, and their reviews of their experience with various products and services take center stage. Access to product comparisons and rankings, user reviews and comments, and recommendations from bloggers with large followings have shaped a new scenario for consumer behavior, retail trade, and the economy in general.

The Internet and the Economy

The Internet is one of the key factors driving today’s economy. No one can afford to be left behind. Even in a tough macroeconomic framework, the Internet can foster growth, coupled with enhanced productivity and competitiveness.

The Internet provides opportunities for strengthening the economy: How should we tackle them? While Europe—and Spain specifically—are making efforts to make the best possible use of the Internet, there are areas in which their approach needs to improve. Europe faces a major challenge, and risks serious failure if it lets the United States run ahead on its own. The European Commission, in its “Startup Manifesto,” suggests that the Old World be more entrepreneur-friendly—the proposal is backed by companies like Spotify and Tuenti. Europe lacks some of the necessary know-how. We need to improve in financial services and in data privacy, moving past the obsolete regulatory framework we now have and making a bid to achieve a well-connected continent with a single market for 4G mobile connections. We need to make it easier to hire talent outside each given country.

The use of e-commerce should be encouraged among small and medium-sized enterprises so that growth opportunities can be exploited more intensely. Following the global trend of the Internet, companies should internalize their online business. And much more emphasis should be placed on new technologies training in the academic and business spheres.

Modern life is global, and Spain is competing against every other country in the world. I do not believe in defeatism or victim culture. Optimism should not translate into callousness, but I sincerely believe that if you think creatively, if you find a different angle, if you innovate with a positive attitude and without fear of failure, then you can change things for the better. Spain needs to seize the moment to reinvent itself, grasping the opportunities offered up by the online world. We need to act, take decisions, avoid “paralysis through analysis.” I sometimes feel we are too inclined to navel-gazing: Spain shuts itself off, fascinated with its own contradictions and local issues, and loses its sense of perspective. Spain should open up to the outside, use the crisis as an opportunity to do things differently, in a new way—creating value, underlining its strengths, aspiring to be something more.

In the United States, for instance, diving headfirst into a personal Internet-related startup is regarded as perfectly normal. I’m glad to see that this entrepreneurial spirit is beginning to take hold here as well. I believe in working hard, showing perseverance, keeping your goals in view, surrounding yourself with talent, and taking risks. No risk, no success. We live in an increasingly globalized world: of course you can have a Spain-based Internet startup, there are no frontiers.

We need to take risks and keep one step ahead of the future. It is precisely the most disruptive innovations that require radical changes in approach and product, which might not even find a market yet ready for them—these are the areas providing real opportunities to continue being relevant, to move forward and “earn” the future, creating value and maintaining leadership. It is the disruptive changes that enable a business, product, or service to revolutionize the market—and, particularly in the technology sector, such changes are a necessity.

The Future of Social Communications, Innovation, Mobile Technologies, and Total Connectivity in Our Lives

The future of social communications will be shaped by an  always-online  culture.  Always online  is already here and will set the trend going forward. Total connectivity, the Internet you can take with you wherever you go, is growing unstoppably. There is no turning back for global digitalization.

Innovation is the driving force of growth and progress, so we need to shake up entrenched processes, products, services, and industries, so that all of us together—including established businesses, reacting to their emerging competitors—can move forward together.

Innovation is shaping and will continue to shape the future of social communications. It is already a reality that Internet connections are increasingly mobile. A survey we conducted in early 2013 in partnership with Ipsos found that 94 percent of Tuenti users aged 16 to 35 owned cell phones, 84 percent of users connected to the Internet using their phones, and 47 percent had mobile data subscriptions for connecting to the Internet. A total of 74 percent of users reported connecting to the Internet from their phone on a daily basis, while 84 percent did so at least weekly. Only 13 percent did not use their phones to connect to the Internet, and that percentage is decreasing every day.

Mobile Internet use alters the pattern of device usage; the hitherto familiar ways of accessing the Internet are changing too. The smartphone activities taking up the most time (over three hours a day) include instant messaging (38%), social media use (35%), listening to music (24%), and web browsing (20%). The activities taking up the least time (under five minutes a day) are: SMS texting (51%), watching movies (43%), reading and writing e-mail (38%), and talking on the phone (32%). Things are still changing.

Smartphones are gaining ground in everyday life. Many of the purposes formerly served by other items now involve using our smartphones. Some 75 percent of young people reported having replaced their MP3 player with their phone, 74 percent use their phone as an alarm clock, 70 percent use it as their camera, and 67 percent use it as their watch.

We have been observing these shifts for a while, which is why we decided to reinvent ourselves by placing smartphones at the heart of our strategy. I want to use this example as a showcase of what is happening in the world of social communication and the Internet in general: mobile connectivity is bringing about a new revolution. Tuenti is no longer just a social network, and social media as a whole are becoming more than just websites. The new Tuenti provides native mobile apps for Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, as well as the Firefox OS app and the mobile version of the website, m.tuenti.com. Tuenti is now a cross-platform service that lets users connect with their friends and contacts from wherever they may be, using their device of choice. A user with a laptop can IM in real time with a user with a smartphone, and switch from one device to another without losing the thread of the conversation. The conversations are in the cloud, so data and contacts are preserved independently of the devices being used. This means the experience has to be made uniform across platforms, which sometimes involves paring down functionalities, given the processing and screen size limitations of mobile devices. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on are all evolving to become increasingly cross-platform experiences. But Tuenti is the first social network that has also developed its own Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO)—the company is an Internet service provider over the mobile network. Tuenti is an MVNO with a social media angle, and this may be the future path of telecommunications.

Social media are evolving to become something more, and innovation must be their hallmark if they are to continue being relevant. Tuenti now embraces both social communications and telecom services provision, offering value added by letting you use the mobile app free of charge and without using up your data traffic allowance, even if you have no credit on your prepaid card—this is wholly revolutionary in the telecom sector. The convergence of social media with more traditional sectors is already bringing about a new context for innovation, a new arena for the development and growth of the Internet.

Just about everything in the world of the Internet still lies ahead of us, and mobile communications as we know them must be reinvented by making them more digital. The future will be shaped by innovation converging with the impact of mobility. This applies not just to social media but to the Internet in general, particularly in the social communications field. I feel that many people do not understand what we are doing and have no idea of the potential development of companies like ours at the global level. Right now, there may be somebody out there, in some corner of the world, developing the tool that will turn the Internet upside down all over again. The tool that will alter our day-to-day life once more. Creating more opportunities, providing new benefits to individuals, bringing more individual and collective well-being. Just ten years ago, social media did not exist; in the next ten years, something else radically new will emerge. There are many areas in which products, processes, and services can be improved or created afresh. The future is brimming with opportunities, and the future of the Internet has only just begun.

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The Impact of the Internet on Society: A Global Perspective

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The Internet is the decisive technology of the Information Age, and with the explosion of wireless communication in the early twenty-first century, we can say that humankind is now almost entirely connected, albeit with great levels of inequality in bandwidth, efficiency, and price.

People, companies, and institutions feel the depth of this technological change, but the speed and scope of the transformation has triggered all manner of utopian and dystopian perceptions that, when examined closely through methodologically rigorous empirical research, turn out not to be accurate. For instance, media often report that intense use of the Internet increases the risk of isolation, alienation, and withdrawal from society, but available evidence shows that the Internet neither isolates people nor reduces their sociability; it actually increases sociability, civic engagement, and the intensity of family and friendship relationships, in all cultures.

Our current “network society” is a product of the digital revolution and some major sociocultural changes. One of these is the rise of the “Me-centered society,” marked by an increased focus on individual growth and a decline in community understood in terms of space, work, family, and ascription in general. But individuation does not mean isolation, or the end of community. Instead, social relationships are being reconstructed on the basis of individual interests, values, and projects. Community is formed through individuals’ quests for like-minded people in a process that combines online interaction with offline interaction, cyberspace, and the local space.

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• the way of the dodo.

• A Revolution in Business • Banking, Information, and Technology: Toward Knowledge Banking • Cyber Attacks

Globally, time spent on social networking sites surpassed time spent on e-mail in November 2007, and the number of social networking users surpassed the number of e-mail users in July 2009. Today, social networking sites are the preferred platforms for all kinds of activities, both business and personal, and sociability has dramatically increased — but it is a different kind of sociability. Most Facebook users visit the site daily, and they connect on multiple dimensions, but only on the dimensions they choose. The virtual life is becoming more social than the physical life, but it is less a virtual reality than a real virtuality, facilitating real-life work and urban living.

Because people are increasingly at ease in the Web’s multidimensionality, marketers, government, and civil society are migrating massively to the networks people construct by themselves and for themselves. At root, social-networking entrepreneurs are really selling spaces in which people can freely and autonomously construct their lives. Sites that attempt to impede free communication are soon abandoned by many users in favor of friendlier and less restricted spaces.

Perhaps the most telling expression of this new freedom is the Internet’s transformation of sociopolitical practices. Messages no longer flow solely from the few to the many, with little interactivity. Now, messages also flow from the many to the many, multimodally and interactively. By disintermediating government and corporate control of communication, horizontal communication networks have created a new landscape of social and political change.

Networked social movements have been particularly active since 2010, notably in the Arab revolutions against dictatorships and the protests against the management of the financial crisis. Online and particularly wireless communication has helped social movements pose more of a challenge to state power.

The Internet and the Web constitute the technological infrastructure of the global network society, and the understanding of their logic is a key field of research. It is only scholarly research that will enable us to cut through the myths surrounding this digital communication technology that is already a second skin for young people, yet continues to feed the fears and the fantasies of those who are still in charge of a society that they barely understand.

Read the full article here.

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Essay on Internet

• Updated on  
• Oct 1, 2021

With throat-cutting competition, the difficulty level of various competitive exams has increased. Apart from domain-specific knowledge, questions framed in various exams evaluate critical thinking and decision-making ability, reading and writing skills, and  Logical and Analytical Reasoning . It thus has become important to focus on all the components equally. Just like the aforementioned topics, Essay writing is another crucial element of a wide range of entrance tests like IELTS , TOEFL , UPSC exams , etc. The topics for essays can range from Digital India and Economic issues to the role of Education and Women Empowerment . In this blog, we will share some samples of essays on the internet with you!

Uses of Internet Essay

Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet

Tips to Write an Essay on the Internet 

Here are some of the tips which you can follow in order to write an impressive essay on the internet. 

• Your essay on the internet should be clear and concise with appropriate information. 
• Research meticulously before you start writing an essay on the internet.
• Add both, advantages and disadvantages of using it.  
• Write the content in paragraphs. 
• Avoid the use of jargons and slangs. 
• Keep the tone formal. 
• You can also add statistical data.

The internet is a worldwide network of computer networks that connects millions of people in over 150 countries. Using the internet, you can send emails, chat with people, and obtain information on different variety of subjects. 

Internet can be used for multiple purposes including finding information, communicate with people, shop online, manage your finances, etc.

The first workable prototype of internet came in the late 1960s with creation of ARPANET or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. ARPANET used packet switching to allow multiple computers to communicate on a single network.

In order to complete your application process for studying abroad, apart from the basic documents, you also need to submit a personal essay / statement of purpose as it elucidates your motive to take admission in a particular course and university and also shed light on your career goals. It thus needs to be impressive! Take the assistance from the experts at Leverage Edu who will help you write an SOP that will highlight your achievements, purpose and future goals in a very lucid yet impeccable way!

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2020 Impact Report

The internet is a lifeline, try to imagine living through 2020 without the internet..

Medical researchers, loved ones, and even work acquaintances would have been hard to reach, or even worse, cut off. There would have been a total stop to education, with young people losing a crucial year. Our society would have been faced with a terrible choice between economic or medical collapse. The Internet did not make everything perfect. This year has shown us that nothing could. But without it, we would have fared much worse. The Internet is a force for good in society, for sure.

At the start of 2020, the Internet Society reaffirmed our goals for the Internet to be open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy. In service of those goals, we committed to our Action Plan https://www.internetsociety.org/action-plan/2020/ .

“The Internet Society supports and promotes the development of the Internet as a global technical infrastructure, a resource to enrich people’s lives, and a force for good in society.” Internet Society Mission Tweet

This Impact Report shows what we have achieved together. When the pandemic hit, the whole Internet Society responded to the challenge. From the Smart Mom program developed by our Haiti Chapter, to the changes that Loretta Odame in Ghana made to improve her online security; from improvement of digital literacy in Yemen, to the chapters who made their websites more accessible and reliable – all these activities show how, by working together in the Internet Way, we can make sure the Internet is for everyone. I find it inspiring, and I hope you do, too.

But our work is not done. The Internet still faces threats, both from governments who want to shut it down or control it, and from industrial interests that want to own it all. Nearly half the world had to live through 2020 without Internet access. We must keep working in 2021 to make the Internet bigger and stronger – to make our vision true: The Internet is for everyone.

Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO

The Internet is for everyone.

THE STORY OF 2020

More than any year in history, 2020 showed that the Internet is indispensable.

The year changed the way we live, work, study, advocate, and communicate in fundamental ways that are likely to persist. It forced physical distance between us while bringing us closer together online. For all its contradictions, 2020’s impact on the Internet has been a rapid acceleration of trends already in motion.

The Internet became a virtual lifeline, giving people vital health information and access to medical care. It allowed people to telework and enabled businesses to stay afloat through online sales. It heralded unprecedented e-learning. It allowed isolated people to connect with loved ones. The Internet has also allowed people to continue to exercise their rights and advocate for change.

However, this was only the reality for people with Internet connectivity.

For those without it, closing the digital divide has never been more urgent. Internet access should not be a luxury, and it can no longer be neglected.

As more people shifted their lives online, it was initially unclear if the Internet could withstand the increased demand. The answer was a resounding yes. It allowed people to be more resilient to the social and economic shocks of the pandemic.

The Internet remained reliable while our world became increasingly unpredictable.

The Internet’s resilience is a reflection of the people who developed it and who work to strengthen it and keep it growing.

Chapters, individual and organization members, partners, communities of interest, and staff around the world worked together to meet challenges and overcome obstacles with energy, vision, and determination.

Our annual Impact Report tracks our work by actions and impacts, organized by major shifts in the way people used the Internet compared to years prior. While the projects we highlight in the 2020 report touch on particular successes, they represent only a fraction of our activities.

Surge in Internet Usage

U.S. & EU Broadband Consumption

tbps World-Record Data Consumption

Globally, lockdowns caused Internet use to surge up to 70% by one account Mark Beech, “COVID-19 Pushes Up Internet Use 70% And Streaming More Than 12%, First Figures Reveal” FORBES, 25 MAR 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/markbeech/2020/03/25/covid-19-pushes-up-internet-use-70-streaming-more-than-12-first-figures-reveal/?sh=2ef2fbe83104 . In the U.S. and Europe, first quarter average subscriber usage data Broadband Insights Report (OVBI) OPENVAULT, Q1 2020, https://openvault.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Openvault_Q120_DataUsage_FINAL.pdf revealed that broadband consumption increased 47%, from 273.5 GB in 2019 to 402.5 GB in 2020. The Deutsche Commercial Internet Exchange (DE-CIX) in Frankfurt even set a new world record DE-CIX sets a new world record: More than 9 Terabits per second data throughput at Frankfurt Internet Exchange DE-CIX website, 11 MAR 2020, https://www.de-cix.net/en/about-de-cix/media-center/press-releases/de-cix-sets-a-new-world-record for data consumption in March, hitting more than 9.1 Terabits per second.

With Internet resilience thrust into the spotlight like never before, these usage spikes pushed providers to enhance their networks in order to minimize connection and speed hiccups. With the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Telecommunications Union (ATU), the Internet Society organized a series of seven seminars on African Internet resilience https://www.internetsociety.org/events/african-internet-resilience/ to keep networks up and strong. Participants explored solutions ranging from shared spectrum strategies https://www.internetsociety.org/events/african-internet-resilience/shared-spectrum-strategies-to-increase-affordable-access-in-rural-areas/ to complementary access models https://www.internetsociety.org/events/african-internet-resilience/what-about-complimentary-access-models/ to fiberoptic backbone infrastructure https://www.internetsociety.org/events/african-internet-resilience/the-role-of-fibre-optic-backbone-infrastructure-in-affordable-access/ .

HOW DID INTERNET FARE?

A record number of people were online in 2020.

While Internet usage was up, the number of routing incidents reported worldwide dropped – from more than 5,000 in 2017 to fewer than 4,000 at the end of 2020 .

Participant Growth

Network Operators Trained

PARTICIPATION IN MUTUALLY AGREED NORMS FOR ROUTING SECURITY (MANRS) GREW OVER THE YEAR, DOUBLING ITS REACH FROM 317 TO 588 PARTICIPANTS FROM OVER 60 COUNTRIES. 

MANRS launched Ambassador https://www.manrs.org/ambassadors-program/ and Fellowship https://www.manrs.org/ambassadors-program/fellows/ programs, bringing together 17 seasoned practitioners. They jointly organized 58 workshops and engaged over 1,400 network operators around the world. Seventy-five Internet Society chapters took part in a global training workshop in March, after which the UbuntuNet Alliance partnered with Internet Society to subsequently train 18 network engineers “NREN engineers hail MANRS training workshop”, UBUNTUNET ALLIANCE, 1 SEP 2020, https://ubuntunet.net/2020/09/nren-engineers-hail-manrs-training-workshop/ from national research and education networks (NRENs) in eight African countries in July.

In addition, Akamai, Amazon Web Services, Azion, Cloudflare, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, and other Internet leaders are now working together to secure large portions of cloud infrastructure – thanks to the new MANRS program for content delivery networks and cloud providers https://www.internetsociety.org/news/press-releases/2020/leading-cdn-and-cloud-providers-join-manrs-to-improve-routing-security/ .

Internet exchange points (IXPs) keep traffic local and improve network resiliency.

We supported IXPs with technical expertise, training, and equipment in 26 countries, including 12 in Africa, 3 in Asia-Pacific, 2 in Europe, 8 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 1 in North America.

We trained more than 600 individuals and organized 20 virtual meetings with peering, network operator, and NREN communities with our partners. We also teamed up with the Asia Pacific Internet Exchange Association (APIX) to study the impact of COVID-19 on IXP operations in 12 countries across the region https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2020/07/ixps-keeping-local-infrastructure-resilient-during-covid-19/ .

Countries Supported

Individuals Trained

Virtual Community Meetings

Countries Studied for Impact of COVID-19 on IXP Operations

IMPACT SPOTLIGHT

New IXP gains momentum in Guatemala

“The IXP.GT is the best thing that happened to us in 2020! Since we connected in August, we’ve doubled [or tripled] the average bandwidth,” says Ariel Tello, engineer and Project Manager at Señal Nacional, Guatemala’s third-largest residential Internet service-provider (ISP) and one of 10 organizations connected to IXP.GT.

He says connecting to IXP.GT has reduced their payments to international suppliers by at least 15%, allowing them to lower prices and improve capacity. In July, a 1 Mbps monthly download plan ran 149 quetzales (US$19). Now, customers pay that price for triple the download (3 Mbps). If costs fall further, Tello says they’ll be able to invest in expanding to more places without Internet access.

A Facebook node is now being installed – the first Point of Presence in Central America – and connections are being negotiated with other content delivery networks, with help from the Internet Society and the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Exchange Association.

“Before the IXP, it took 30 to 40 milliseconds to receive content, but it takes 2 milliseconds or less now,” explains Marco Antonio To, engineer, professor and IXP.GT President. IXP.GT also enhances security by keeping sensitive data within the country.

IXP.GT also makes participants less vulnerable to natural disasters, says To. Severe hurricane-related flooding in December damaged several international fiber-optic cables, causing delays for non-IXP operators.

Marco Antonio To (IXP.GT President) – Julio Ramírez (Intertelco) – Iván Morales (IXP.GT Technical Director) – Ervin Jiménez (Comnet)

Organizations Connected 

Times Average Bandwidth

Decrease in Payments to International Suppliers

Decrease in Speed to Receive Content

Business not as usual

With numerous stores, banks, and government offices closed during the pandemic, many people shifted to paying bills, collecting benefits, and shopping online. As a result, the first half of 2020 saw an increase in e-commerce equivalent to that of the previous 10 years “The next normal arrives: Trends that will define 2021—and beyond”, MCKINSEY & COMPANY, 4 JAN 2021, ACCESSED 3 FEB 2021, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/the-next-normal-arrives-trends-that-will-define-2021-and-beyond . An UNCTAD survey of nine countries “COVID-19 has changed online shopping forever, survey shows “, UNCTAD, 8 OCT 2020, https://unctad.org/news/covid-19-has-changed-online-shopping-forever-survey-shows found more than half of respondents now shop online more frequently, and a survey in Brazil “Painel TIC COVID-19, 1ª Edição”, CETIC.BR, ACCESSED 3 FEB 2021, https://cetic.br/pt/tics/tic-covid-19/painel-covid-19/1-edicao/C6W/ revealed that 54% of people were paying bills or taxes online and 71% were banking or doing financial transfers online.

As the months dragged on, the Great Work-from-Home Experiment became reality. With many workplaces closed, half of the workforce or more was working from home – one global survey found that 45% of respondents worked from home in 2020, while another found that 47% of businesses would allow their employees to work remotely full-time, moving forward, and 82% would allow it at least some of the time. With so many people working and transacting online, the need for online privacy and security has become even more critical.

Spain was among the first countries to be devastated by COVID-19. Amid lockdowns, people suddenly had to adapt to working, buying groceries and paying bills online. For many seniors and small businesses in particular, the learning curve was steep. To help them navigate the transition, 67-year-old retired IT veteran Paulino Moreno, delivers workshops and seminars for Cibervoluntarios (Cyber-volunteers), a Spanish non-profit and Internet Society organization member that provides international technology training and awareness-raising. Moreno was among the 85 participants in an encryption webinar https://youtu.be/nADsFZl1bMY delivered jointly by Internet Society and Cibervoluntarios in May 2020, their first joint activity since partnering in 2019. “The way they explained how to transmit data and documents safely has been useful to me, especially the six-point recommendations from the Internet Society https://www.internetsociety.org/encryption/protect-encryption-protect-yourself/ on how to keep your communications safe,” explains Moreno. He has since incorporated these tips into at least six of his own talks and workshops for audiences ranging from seniors to young entrepreneurs.

Cibervoluntarios, an Internet Society organization member, has also joined the Global Encryption Coalition ( GEC https://www.globalencryption.org/ ) which was launched in May in an effort to challenge laws and proposals that could weaken encryption. Led by a Steering Committee composed of the Internet Society, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Global Partners Digital, the GEC has grown from 30 members to a diverse array of more than 100 like-minded organizations. The GEC has already made gains in promoting and defending encryption. In November, a group of 50 expert members of the Coalition issued a technical report analyzing and debunking a leaked European Commission document, which analyzed different ways to spot illegal content in encrypted private communications. The Coalition also engaged in lobbying and issued a joint statement https://www.globalencryption.org/2020/10/cdt-gpd-and-internet-society-reject-time-worn-argument-for-encryption-backdoors/ after the “Five-Eyes” intelligence alliance, plus India and Japan, called on companies to create backdoor access for law enforcement to their encrypted devices and services.

While governments and law enforcement agencies continued to call for backdoor access to encrypted communications, we issued policy recommendations https://www.internetsociety.org/covid19-policy-recommendations/ urging lawmakers and network operators to protect the trustworthiness of the Internet .

The recommendations called for policies and regulations to support the use of end-to- end encryption. Our encryption work intensified in 2020 with global advocacy, regional messaging consultations, and global encryption training https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2020/09/chapter-leaders-worldwide-make-the-case-for-strong-encryption/ for 139 participants from 66 chapters. Training participants went on to engage in advocacy or organize their own local sessions, including in Ghana and Nicaragua.

Internet Society chapters also responded with tenacity and innovation to the turmoil of 2020, creating initiatives to help see their communities through times of crisis and recovery.

One of the three winning Chapterthon projects in 2020 Chapterthon is an opportunity for Internet Society chapters to engage with their members to create projects around a central theme. https://www.internetsociety.org/grants/chapterthon/2020/ https://www.internetsociety.org/grants/chapterthon/2020/projects/ focused on making sure people could use the Internet productively and securely. The Haiti Chapter developed the Smart Mom 2020 program https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE5E7awrhA , training 20 mothers to use online banking or mobile money accounts.

The Bangladesh Chapter hosted a workshop for journalists working from home https://youtu.be/TQoa5fzfoEc at a time when most were using personal devices to publish news, leaving them prone to cyber attacks and disinformation. And the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Chapter produced a tutorial on automating small businesses’ booking services https://youtu.be/c96Q18riufI , with tips to help small businesses enhance their efficiency by using free digital tools.

The Internet Society hosted a series of virtual trainings which over 70 chapter representatives attended to learn how to improve the overall security and availability of their websites and web servers. As a result of the training, many chapters significantly increased their websites’ compliance with open, secure standards. “After the training session, our chapter made several changes,” says Kolkata India Chapter participant Rittika Ratawa. Indeed, the Kolkata Chapter took its website from 32% compliance to an impressive 100% https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2020/07/open-standards-everywhere-how-the-kolkata-chapter-got-a-perfect-score/ .

Strengthening the Internet so it remains a force for good.

Students and journalists secure their online communications after encryption training.

Loretta Odame, a 28-year-old student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, previously used social media without much thought about security or privacy. But after taking an Internet Society-sponsored workshop on encryption, organized by one of her professors, she has since made “a complete change” in the information she shares online and how she uses social media.

“The program helped us see the reasons why encryption matters, because it protects our privacy. That has given us an awareness that there are certain things that we used to do and are not doing anymore. And we are aware of the need to secure our data.”

The workshop content largely replicated the Internet Society’s encryption training course, which was delivered to more than 90 chapter representatives around the world in May. One of the participants in that training was 26-year-old Theorose Elikplim Dzineku, Chair of Programs and Communications for Internet Society Ghana.

Dzineku, who regularly teaches a second-year new media class to 120 students at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, went on to write a research paper examining how Ghanaian journalists understand encryption and apply it to their work. The topic was timely as the pandemic had forced many to use online means of communicating with sources,

and misinformation was rife. She was surprised to learn that most working journalists had no knowledge of encryption.

She put together a proposal and won a $3,000 small grant from the Internet Society Foundation to implement an encryption workshop at the Ministry of Communications.

“I really wanted to use the knowledge that I gained to make a change. I didn’t just want to be part of the numbers who do a training and just go home with a certificate without doing anything,” she says.

Vincent Amedzake is a 24-year-old freelance journalist who attended one of Dzineku’s encryption workshops.

“Before the workshop, we exchanged messages and information using mediums that we didn’t know weren’t secure,” he says, adding that he now relies on basic encryption techniques he learned in the workshop. He’s also changed the way he uses social media and now uses password-secured public WiFi connections.

“One very valid and important thing we learned was that protection is key – encryption is key,” he says.

Education in a pandemic

Amid the global wave of pandemic lockdowns, there was an unprecedented rise in e-learning. As of 1 April, nearly 1.5 billion children in 173 countries “Global monitoring of school closures caused by Coronavirus (Covid-19),” UNESCO [see interactive map data for 1 April 2020], ACCESSED 2 APR 2021, https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse were affected by school closures. In China, the largest “online movement” in the history of education Cathy Li and Farah Lalani, “The COVID-19 pandemic has changed education forever. This is how,” WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, 29 APR 2020, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-education-global-covid19-online-digital-learning/ occurred in mid-February after the government instructed a quarter of a billion full-time students to resume their studies online.

Having students of all ages studying, submitting homework, and videoconferencing with teachers and classmates online has heightened awareness of the need for safe communications.

The pandemic ushered in a pressing need to improve the digital literacy of children, teachers, and parents. To address these needs, we hosted a Kids, the Internet, and COVID-19 https://www.internetsociety.org/events/kids-the-internet-covid-19-how-to-keep-our-children-safe-online/ webinar to show parents how they can protect their children’s privacy and security online via encryption. The video of the webinar was viewed nearly 3 million times , setting a record for the Internet Society as the most viewed video content.

Further, the original webinar content was replicated by members of the community, including our Japan Chapter which translated the English version into Japanese.

Internet Society chapters devised a number of education-focused projects to keep kids learning and teachers educating online – and to ensure this happened safely and effectively. The Chapter in the Democratic Republic of Congo prepared a video guide to help teachers use Zoom https://youtu.be/fwCv1Om9PYI . The Sri Lanka Chapter developed a blueprint for a catalogue of online educational resources to help school teachers use online tools https://youtu.be/3ohnlal4mtI and catch up on missing lessons. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Chapter developed a crowdsourcing project to build a repository of shared teaching resources https://youtu.be/fUtRIkMkX9E , help teachers access online training, and find other experts. And to empower educators to safely navigate online teaching amid the pandemic, the Uganda Chapter delivered a training on digital safety for 50 educators from 38 schools https://youtu.be/nztoCfYQ9w8 .

Since most schools weren’t closed for the entire year, ensuring connectivity was also a continued priority. To help, the Armenia Chapter provided computers, WiFi connections, and training for rural art schools and libraries https://youtu.be/gDd8qsd3-ps , while the Gambia Chapter refurbished and networked computer labs and donated computers to three schools “Internet Society Gambia Chapter- ISOC Gambia Chapterthon 2020 project, in Partnership with MCJSupport Org”, MCJSUPPORT ORGANIZATION, https://mcjsupport.org/2021/02/16/internet-society-gambia-chapter-isoc-gambia-chapterthon-2020-project-in-partnership-with-mcjsupport-org/ for children with disabilities.

Helping students continue their education amid twin crises in Yemen

More than 150 elementary and high-school students at five different public schools in war-ravaged and pandemic-ridden Yemen now know how to use the Internet safely and effectively to learn.

This was the result of Chapterthon-winning training sessions organized by the Yemen Chapter: Reinforcing digital awareness in Yemeni schools https://youtu.be/yTvQJwAS2-Q . The lessons focused on digital security, privacy, online search techniques, and free e-learning tools such as Zoom and Google Classroom.

When one in five schools in Yemen can no longer be used as a direct result of conflict “As school year starts in Yemen, 2 million children are out of school and another 3.7 million are at risk of dropping out”, UNICEF, SEP 2019, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/school-year-starts-yemen-2-million-children-are-out-school-and-another-37-million , the Internet is enabling students to continue their education remotely when they can’t physically attend school.

The training sessions have also faced obstacles. They’ve had to be planned around ceasefires or rescheduled due to the eruption of violence. Another challenge was convincing school principals and directors that e-learning training was needed.

“Lots of people have Internet access through mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. There is a big gap in knowledge between parents and their children, as well as teachers,” says Internet Society Yemen Chapter President Sharaf Azzain. “When we realized that the teachers were interested and needed training as well, we included them.”

After the first Chapterthon project, undertaken in the capital of Sanaa, Azzain says the project team went on to organize a similar project in the opposition-recognized capital of Aden. There, four trainers reached more than 120 students and 20 teachers at four schools, providing training on computer literacy and safe Internet use.

Keeping healthcare secure

Increase of “Ping An Good Doctor” app users in China

Increase of demand for telehealth services in US

At a time when COVID-19 information was crucial, there was substantial growth in telemedicine. Additionally, doctors’ inability to see patients face-to-face catapulted online video consults to record-setting figures. The number of new users on a Chinese healthcare app rose nearly 900% in January 2020 compared to December 2019 Vikram Kapur and Alex Boulton, “Covid-19 Accelerates the Adoption of Telemedicine in Asia-Pacific Countries,” BAIN & COMPANY. APR 2020, https://www.bain.com/insights/covid-19-accelerates-the-adoption-of-telemedicine-in-asia-pacific-countries/ , and visits to a Singaporean telemedicine platform rose more than 160% from the beginning of 2020. A May report showed demand for telehealth services would grow 64.3% in the US in 2020 alone Mike Miliard, “Telehealth set for ‘tsunami of growth,’ says Frost & Sullivan,” HEALTHCARE IT NEWS, MAY 2020, https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-set-tsunami-growth-says-frost-sullivan – and a staggering seven-fold increase was predicted by 2025. Meanwhile, COVID-19 contact-tracing, testing, vaccine development, and vaccination scheduling were all made easier thanks to the Internet.

But people need to know how to use and benefit from these new health apps and services. And with so many people using telehealth, confidential health records must stay private and secure.

The Internet Society, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Global Partners Digital hosted a webinar series with leading security and technology experts that explored topics like Health, Encryption, and COVID-19: Keeping people and countries safer online https://www.internetsociety.org/events/health-encryption-covid-19/ . Another focused on Health, the Internet and COVID-19: Government backdoor access proposals that threaten Canadian health and security online https://livestream.com/accounts/686369/events/9128375/videos/206047873/player?width=640&height=360&enableInfo=false&defaultDrawer=&autoPlay=false&mute=false .

In addition, the Internet Society’s webinar in the African Internet resilience series explored digital health services and solutions for the medical industry during the pandemic https://www.internetsociety.org/events/african-internet-resilience/digital-solution-for-health-services-and-the-medical-industry-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/ .

Chapters championed health-related projects. In Guinea, they provided community healthcare centers with an Internet connection, an interactive web platform, and messaging services to facilitate interactions between patients and health entities https://youtu.be/3fdzMsKJauY . In Somalia, efforts focused on educating and informing the community about privacy, online security, and getting reliable health information https://youtu.be/ajtsrev02T8 . Meanwhile, the Togo Chapter’s DokitaEyes community digital school project https://youtu.be/N84eTrNJnoM trained community health workers on digital tools to help implement the “Health of Mothers and Children of Togo” project.

How a remote rural town prepared for a pandemic and improved its connectivity

Imagine facing COVID-19 without the Internet. That could have been the reality in El Cuy, a remote town in southern Argentina, had the Internet Society not helped deploy its community network in 2019. Its impact was magnified in 2020.

Maria Goicochea, Director of the El Cuy Hospital, says being connected has allowed doctors to do online consults with specialists, get statistical reports, send urgent patient or administrative records, and find suppliers. They can also access training and Ministry of Health teleconferences. She says without the Internet, COVID-19’s impact would have been unthinkable. “We would have been disarmed, stressed, and helpless!”

Nearly half of El Cuy’s population is over the age of 60 – a high-risk group. People used to have to travel 130 km to a nearby city to get medical prescriptions approved. This is now done online, eliminating long, risky, and costly travel.

The network initially used a 10 Mbps connection borrowed from an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) 200 km away, and the increased traffic amid lockdowns made the connection slow and patchy. In May, the Internet Society published a blog by Nelso Rodríguez, a nurse at the hospital and one of the network’s founders, where he called for more capacity, and placed an article about El Cuy’s network “Cuando una conexión a Internet es el único lazo al mundo en cuarentena: el caso de El Cuy, en Río Negro “, LA NACION, MAY 2020, https://www.lanacion.com.ar/tecnologia/cuando-conexion-internet-es-unico-lazo-al-nid2363234/ in an important Argentine newspaper – La Nación . Soon after, a local Internet service provider upped El Cuy’s backhaul through the IXP by 50% and expanded the number of connections.

For Rodríguez, empowerment has been the greatest impact. “We realized that we could accomplish things and organize our community around a common good,” he said.

Mobilizing—at a safe distance

Being able to raise our voices is a human right and a cornerstone of democracy. But at a time of restricted movement, typical ways of organizing and mobilizing for change have had to adjust.

STAYING HOME HASN’T MEANT STAYING SILENT.

The boom in Internet-based advocacy was accelerated in 2020. U.S. citizens used digital advocacy to engage with all levels of government, undertaking eight times more digital actions in the first half of 2020 than in the last presidential election year in 2016 “State of Advocacy 2020: The year of Digital Advocacy,” PHONE2ACTION, ACCESSED 24 FEB 2021, https://phone2action.com/state-of-advocacy-2020/ . In a Gallup poll Abby Kiesa, “Lack of Voting Information Could Hamper Youth Turnout,” GALLUP 14 JUL 2020, https://news.gallup.com/poll/315761/lack-voting-information-hamper-youth-turnout.aspx , 79% of young people said “the coronavirus pandemic has helped them realize how much political leaders’ decisions impact their lives.” And with the #BlackLivesMatter movement gaining broad public support Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy, “How Public Opinion Has Moved on Black Lives Matter”, NEW YORK TIMES, 10 JUNE 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/10/upshot/black-lives-matter-attitudes.html globally, a Pew Research survey Brooke Auxier, “Americans’ activism on social media differs by race, age, party,” PEW RESEARCH CENTER, 13 JUL 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/07/13/activism-on-social-media-varies-by-race-and-ethnicity-age-political-party/ in the U.S. in June found that 54% of social media users aged 18-29 reported using social media to look for information about rallies or protests in their area.

times more digital action than in last U.S. presidential election

of young people realized impact of political leaders’ decisions

of young adult social media users use social platforms to find local rally/protest information

With activities moving online amid the pandemic, the Internet has become more crucial to awareness-raising and advocacy – and advocates’ data and communications must be kept safe and private.

This is even more urgent for marginalized communities and professional advocates, such as journalists, who need to be safe online in order to exercise their rights, engage in advocacy, and hold governments and institutions accountable . We produced factsheets on encryption for LGBTQ+ communities https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2019/encryption-factsheet-essential-for-lgbtq-community/ and how encryption can protect journalists and the free press https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2020/fact-sheet-how-encryption-can-protect-journalists-and-the-free-press/ so that more people can securely tell their impactful stories.

In 2020, the Internet Society launched two critical resources to support policy and advocacy.

Internet Society Pulse https://pulse.internetsociety.org/ , launched in December 2020, provides deeper, data-driven insights into the Internet. The platform includes data about the health, availability, and evolution of the Internet, including Internet shutdowns and the deployment of key technologies that enable the Internet’s scalability and security. Policymakers, researchers, journalists, network operators, and civil society groups can gain insights and context to better inform stories, research, and policies – and advocate for undisrupted Internet access.

As the first organization to officially call for an Impact Assessment and work to integrate it into regulatory processes, the Internet Society developed the Internet Impact Assessment Toolkit https://www.internetsociety.org/issues/internet-way-of-networking/internet-impact-assessment-toolkit/ (IIAT). The IIAT assesses the potential effects of emerging policy and technical proposals on critical properties of the Internet . Over time, the IIAT will strengthen accountability in the regulatory process by enabling policymakers and technologists to make more informed, conscious decisions about how to keep the Internet healthy.

Growing the Internet so everyone can benefit from it

A Harlem community news streaming project empowers advocacy, while serving as a virtual lifeline amid the pandemic.

Across the United States, communities were shaken by the homicide of George Floyd “George Floyd death: Violence erupts on sixth day of protests “, BBC NEWS, 1 JUN 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52872401 by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May. A smartphone recording of the event went viral, triggering worldwide protests “How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody “, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 31 MAY 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html against racism and police brutality and reigniting the Black Lives Matter movement.

In the past, the Black community’s lack of access to media made advocacy difficult. It’s one of the reasons the Internet Society’s New York Chapter applied for an Internet Society Foundation grant https://www.isocfoundation.org/2019/12/internet-society-foundation-announces-300000-in-grants/ for a Streaming Station Community News Project in Harlem. According to Stuart Reid, a community technologist and board member of the New York Chapter, roughly two-thirds of residents are Black and nearly a third are Latino. Half are unemployed and half live below the poverty line. The chapter won a $30,000 grant to help underserved communities produce and stream programs for and about their community.

Pivoting during the pandemic

Weeks into the project, COVID-19 hit, so the project was adapted https://www.isocfoundation.org/story/in-coronavirus-hit-harlem-community-streaming-gives-residents-a-virtual-lifeline/ by shifting from physical studio settings to online applications like Zoom, Facebook Live, YouTube, and various websites, such as www.safensmart.org https://www.safensmart.org/ , to host the community-produced content. News broadcasts, discussions, and motivational shows kept local residents informed about everything from health and safety precautions to local food distribution.

According to Polly Spain, President of the Federal 8 Housing Group, this information has “made a world of difference – it’s been a matter of life and death, really! … We set up access to food, figured out who needed health services…and lawyers, because many people are facing eviction after losing their jobs…. It’s truly been a lifeline.”

The Wisdom Table, co-hosted by Brother Leroy, produced by and for senior citizens, invited a cavalcade of doctors to speak about COVID-19 prevention. Viewers could ask questions of medical providers online.

“Everyone was scared because we’re in the epicenter,” says project manager and Digital Divide Partners co-Chair Doug Frazier.

“Once we got all these doctors on, it helped calm people down. At the time, you couldn’t see a doctor, and you couldn’t go to the emergency room if you didn’t have COVID… so being able to talk to a doctor was worth its weight in gold.”

These shows also debunk misinformation, while dealing with angles not covered by mainstream media, such as how the East Harlem zip code was the hardest-hit by COVID-19 in Manhattan. They’ve also covered the Black Lives Matter movement, with shows like Community & Technology discussing racial equity, policing, corporate sponsorship, and a universal basic income.

“It’s been electricity in terms of the engagement and enthusiasm,” says Brother Leroy, adding that having the community tell its own stories makes the project “a game changer.”

The New York Chapter also engaged in advocacy of its own, issuing a public statement http://lists.isoc-ny.org/pipermail/announce-isoc-ny.org/2020/000795.html in response to the George Floyd killing.

Expanding community networks

Up to one in three Harlem households Household Internet Access , KEEPING TRACK ONLINE, https://data.cccnewyork.org/data/map/1325/household-internet-access#1325/a/3/1547/62/a/a do not have home Internet access – either via computer or mobile phone. Among low-income households, only half are connected.

Under a previous project by Digital Divide Partners https://www.digitaldividepartners.org/ , the Y-Fi Community Network was established, with 500 nodes across New York City. The recent Internet Society Foundation grant helped to expand its coverage by 25 nodes. As a result, more than 75,000 public housing residents can now watch community-produced programming, many of them using the Y-Fi in 10 public housing developments in Harlem and South Bronx.

“We don’t think people should pay a private operator to get Internet access, be safe or to get educated,” says Frazier. “So, we built something so that people could be informed and help and empower themselves. The residents help build the network so you build their skills in the process, and then hopefully get jobs to keep maintaining the network.”

For all the ways the Internet was a lifeline amid the pandemic, the reality is that less than half of the world’s population had access to this lifeline in 2020.

Connecting the unconnected

Completing schoolwork on a cellphone

Unable to do schoolwork because of no at-home computer

Worried about high-speed Internet bill payment

Further, there were gaping inequalities in access between, and within, developed and developing countries. According to a UNICEF-ITU report “Two thirds of the world’s school-age children have no internet access at home, new UNICEF-ITU report says,” UNICEF, 30 NOV 2020, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/two-thirds-worlds-school-age-children-have-no-internet-access-home-new-unicef-itu , 63% of the world’s school-age children  – 1.3 billion children aged 3 to 17 – have no Internet access at home. The gap is greatest in poor and rural households: fewer than 1 in 20 school-age children from low-income countries have Internet at home, compared with nearly 9 in 10 from high-income countries. Even in developed countries, connectivity is low among those with low incomes.

According to a Pew Research Center survey “53% of Americans Say the Internet Has Been Essential During the COVID-19 Outbreak”, PEW RESEARCH CENTER, 30 APR 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/04/30/53-of-americans-say-the-internet-has-been-essential-during-the-covid-19-outbreak/ in the United States in April, 43% of lower-income parents with children whose schools were shut down said their kids would have to do schoolwork on their cellphones and 36% said their children would be unable to do schoolwork because they lacked access to a computer at home. Among those with Internet, 52% of lower-income broadband users said they worried about being able to pay for their high-speed Internet connection over the coming months.

Internet access is no longer optional.

When education, work, life-saving health information, and even medical attention have all shifted to digital platforms, connecting the unconnected is an urgent matter. The pandemic has laid bare the global failure in making “last mile” connectivity widely accessible and affordable.

To fill such gaps, in 2020, the Internet Society supported at least 25 new and existing community networks (CNs) around the world – in Argentina, Canada, the Galapagos Islands, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Greece https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2021/03/sarantaporo-gr-community-network-tending-to-our-communities-needs-with-care-and-flexibility/ , Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda Latanya Tower Construction 2020 video, BOSCO UGANDA, https://youtu.be/D80kWubF2jw , Zimbabwe, and in the United States ( New York City https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2020/03/in-new-york-city-building-a-network-while-social-distancing/ , Baltimore “Community school, tech groups join forces to set up free Wi-Fi network in Sandtown”, BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 8 MAY 2020 https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2020/05/08/community-school-tech-groups-join-forces-to-set-up.html , Seattle, and Hawaii).

The 2020 Chapterthon included several projects focused on providing Internet access to those who were offline, one of which was a community network in Salinas, Bolivia https://youtu.be/9Uo_LU6CxwU . A project in Turkey developed and deployed a blockchain network in four different cities https://youtu.be/ewkJK1SzzKA with a goal to help non-government agencies communicate and manage their resources efficiently when responding to disasters. The South Africa Chapter’s Internet-In-A-Box https://youtu.be/FJljDlPyuDk tutorial and the Panama Chapter’s manual for digital inclusion https://youtu.be/mueX5dGIeOA focused on Internet access through Raspberry Pi devices. The Panama Chapter also trained residents of Parara Puru, a local Indigenous community with no electricity, potable water, or Internet. “More than anything we need computers, electricity and technology, so our children can study,” said Brenio, one of the participants in the training.

We also improved know-how and helped CNs thrive through virtual meetings and expert advice exchange. ​Furthermore, we expanded the set of countries and intergovernmental organizations that recognize the value and support CNs.

More than 2,000 participants took part in the Community Network Exchange Asia-Pacific meeting, as well as a webinar to share Asian success stories https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2020/07/how-community-networks-are-helping-during-covid-19/ . As part of the 2020 Indigenous Connectivity Summit https://www.internetsociety.org/events/indigenous-connectivity-summit/2020/ , 80 people completed courses on Community Networks https://www.internetsociety.org/events/indigenous-connectivity-summit/2020/trainings/community-networks-webinar/ and Policy&Advocacy https://www.internetsociety.org/events/indigenous-connectivity-summit/2020/trainings/policy-advocacy-webinar/ and agreed to a set of policy recommendations https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2020/2020-ics-policy-recommendations/ that could make it easier for Indigenous communities to get connected on their own terms. The Summit on Community Networks in Africa https://www.internetsociety.org/events/summit-community-networks-africa held three sessions in September-November; partner organizations conducted a series of webinars on CNs and access issues; and an interactive panel discussion on Building Community Networks in the Middle East and North Africa took place in December. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 295 people, including policymakers, took our “Building Wireless Community Networks” course, while our high-level webinar “Innovative Models to Connect the Unconnected” attracted 174 representatives from the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission from more than 20 countries.​

Finally, we worked with governmental authorities to secure their support to CNs. At the local and regional levels, we partnered with key countries, such as Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and Brazil, towards enabling regulatory environments. At the global level, we secured that the value of CNs was recognized in official outcomes of the ITU-D and the G20.

Bringing Internet access to homes when public access became impossible

Before the pandemic began, most residents of the town of Murambinda, eastern Zimbabwe, accessed the Internet at the local Cybercafé, the main public access point for Africa’s first community network. Others could connect through Murambinda Works hotspots in schools, government offices, and the district health centre.

But as pandemic-related lockdowns, quarantines and restrictions began, many residents realized they could no longer connect from these public places.

This “caused a major outcry from communities who needed to keep in contact with their loved ones,” says Joseph Bishi, who was the technical lead during the Murambinda Works CN expansion and training project https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2018/12/murambinda-works-community-engagement-workshop/ sponsored by the Internet Society in 2018–2019. That project helped expand the community network along a 40-km radius, connecting four schools, a district referral hospital, some non-governmental organizations, and local government offices.

In 2020, with many residents unable to work and children unable to access e-learning, Bishi decided to approach the Internet Society to connect people from their homes.

He got a $10,000 grant, which enabled a mast with solar-powered systems to be installed in Murambinda from November through December. This has created residential hotspots that allow community residents to access public health education materials offline, through a platform developed in collaboration with TunapandaNET. Residents can access local content for free or the Internet for a fee.

“The support was of a great relief to us as a community ISP … to accommodate a new way of living for rural communities, so that you can work from home, attend church from home, and even [do] schooling,” says Bishi. “The availability of a community network in Murambinda has become the life hub of the community.”

Now, another platform allows students to access educational material through the school management system Murambinda Works developed in 2019. Students and teachers can experience a virtual classroom. Many children and teachers are already equipped for e-learning – a downwind impact of Internet Society’s earlier funding. Prior to the pandemic, at least 1,500 teachers out of 3,224 and over 400 health workers across the province had also been trained by Murambinda Works on basic ICT and computer literacy.

The school management system has also allowed district education inspectors to remotely access schools without the need for travel. Bishi says additional policy changes could be on the way that will benefit all underserved communities across the country.

The Internet was a cornerstone of 2020.

The pandemic created unique, and often surprising, challenges to our work. But we kept up the momentum, even if it meant we had to sometimes adjust our expectations.

The myriad challenges of 2020 have underscored the creativity, expertise, and perseverance of the Internet Society community and staff in the face of adversity. They fueled solutions that helped the world navigate this time of global confusion, anxiety, and insecurity. This drive will help navigate the recovery, in 2021 and beyond.

And while the world understands more than ever how essential and how powerful the Internet can be, it still cannot replace face-to-face interaction. Rather, it plays an important supporting role for human interaction that shines through during crises, and can be a beacon on our path back to normal.

As we work to overcome the barriers of the digital divide by building better and stronger networks, more people will have the means to weather future storms. Connecting the unconnected is especially pressing, to ensure no one is left behind.

Our mission — to ensure an open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet for all — is as challenging as ever. But 2020 has helped the world understand its importance, and urgency, more clearly than ever.

We can’t do it alone.

Join our growing global movement of people committed to creating a bigger and stronger Internet for everyone. Become a member. Attend an Internet Society event. Become a partner. Follow us on social media. Above all, learn more and engage in the conversations that will help create an open and trusted Internet for everyone.

Essay on Internet Uses For Students

500 + words internet essay.

The internet is described as a global network of computer systems interconnected and following the internet security protocol. However, have you ever considered why the internet is important? This 500+ Words Essay on internet advantages and disadvantages will help students ace essay writing during exams.

A combination of high-end science and advanced technology, the internet is a viral invention. Here, in an essay on the internet, students can learn about the uses and impact of the internet.

Why the Internet Is Important

The internet has undergone significant development from the time of its birth to the present. Over a period of time, the internet has become more interactive and user-friendly. It has also helped man in day-to-day transactions and interactions. The Internet is widely used for numerous functions such as learning, teaching, research, writing, sharing content or data, e-mails, job hunting, playing games, listening to music, watching videos, exploring and finally surfing the internet. Meanwhile, though it makes life easy for people, the internet also comes with a lot of pros and cons. Find the advantages and disadvantages of the internet from this essay.

Also read: History of Internet

Essay on Advantages of Internet

Read this essay on internet advantages to know the effects of using the internet. Look for the points mentioned below.

• The internet has helped reduce the usage of paper and paperwork to a large extent by computerising offices, schools, NGOs, industries and much more.
• Internet helps to provide updated information and news from all over the world
• Education, business and travel have been thriving with the growth of the Internet
• The internet is of high educational and entertainment value
• The internet makes access to public resources, libraries and textbooks much easier
• The internet makes it easy by reducing the time and energy taken to do work
• Work has become more efficient, quick and accurate
• Meetings and conferences are made easier with video calls and other brilliant tools

Apart from all these, as mentioned in the above paragraph on Internet uses, it helps carry out banking activities, exchange information, shop for various goods and more.

Essay on Internet Disadvantages

Despite the use of the internet and its positives, there are also some internet disadvantages. Continuous use of the internet can affect our lifestyle and health. Let us check out the disadvantages of the internet from this paragraph.

• Over-dependence on the internet can lead to many health problems
• People tend to spend more of their productive time doing nothing but browsing
• Even if the internet is now used extensively at work, overuse of the internet could lead to depression
• Quality time with friends and relatives is primarily reduced due to the use of the internet
• Cybercrime has also increased as internet security and privacy are compromised

Thus, we have seen the uses of the internet and its impact on students and working professionals. While we know that overuse of the internet should be avoided, we also have to acknowledge that the internet has still not been exploited to its full potential, despite its massive growth. In conclusion, we can state that to make internet use more comfortable and pleasurable, school students should be taught about the pros and cons of using the internet, thus ensuring that they can stand up against cybercrime and ensure safety.

Also Read: Social Media Essay | Essay on Women Empowerment | Essay On Constitution of India

Frequently asked Questions on Internet Essay

What is the internet.

The internet is a global system of interconnected computers and this system uses a standardised Internet Protocol suite for communication and sharing information.

What are the top 5 uses of the Internet?

The Internet is mostly used by people to send emails and to search on any topic. It can be used to download large files. People depend on the internet for electronic news and magazines these days. A lot of people, especially the young generation use it to play interactive games and for entertainment.

What is WiFi?

WiFi is the latest wireless technology used to connect computers, tablets, smartphones and other electronic devices to the internet.

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Home — Essay Samples — Information Science and Technology — Internet — The Positive And Negative Effects Of Internet

The Positive and Negative Effects of Internet

• Categories: Advantages of Technology Internet Negative Impact of Technology

About this sample

Words: 896 |

Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 896 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited

• Brown, J. D., & Bobkowski, P. S. (2011). Older and newer media: Patterns of use and effects on adolescents' health and well-being. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(1), 95-113.
• Chen, W., & Lee, K. H. (2013). Sharing, liking, commenting, and distressed? The pathway between Facebook interaction and psychological distress. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 728-734.
• Greenfield, P. M., & Yan, Z. (2006). Children, adolescents, and the Internet: A new field of inquiry in developmental psychology. Developmental Psychology, 42(3), 391-394.
• Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53(9), 1017-1031.
• Lenhart, A., Ling, R., Campbell, S., & Purcell, K. (2010). Teens and mobile phones. Pew Research Center.
• Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., & Ólafsson, K. (2011). Risks and safety on the Internet: The perspective of European children: Full findings and policy implications from the EU Kids Online survey of 9-16 year olds and their parents in 25 countries. EU Kids Online, London School of Economics and Political Science.
• Rosen, L. D., Whaling, K., Rab, S., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Is Facebook creating “iDisorders”? The link between clinical symptoms of psychiatric disorders and excessive online social networking. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52(5), 630-636.
• Shapira, N. A., Goldsmith, T. D., Keck Jr, P. E., Khosla, U. M., & McElroy, S. L. (2000). Psychiatric features of individuals with problematic internet use. Journal of Affective Disorders, 57(1-3), 267-272.
• Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents' well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(5), 584-590.
• Ybarra, M. L., & Mitchell, K. J. (2004). Online aggressor/targets, aggressors, and targets: A comparison of associated youth characteristics. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(7), 1308-1316.

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The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition

Joseph firth.

1 NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, Australia

2 Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

3 Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

John Torous

4 Division of Digital Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Brendon Stubbs

5 Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK

6 Physiotherapy Department, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

Josh A. Firth

7 Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

8 Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Genevieve Z. Steiner

9 Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

10 Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

Mario Alvarez‐Jimenez

11 Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

John Gleeson

12 School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia

Davy Vancampfort

13 Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

14 University Psychiatric Center, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Christopher J. Armitage

15 NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK

16 NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, Manchester, UK

Jerome Sarris

17 Professorial Unit, The Melbourne Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia

The impact of the Internet across multiple aspects of modern society is clear. However, the influence that it may have on our brain structure and functioning remains a central topic of investigation. Here we draw on recent psychological, psychiatric and neuroimaging findings to examine several key hypotheses on how the Internet may be changing our cognition. Specifically, we explore how unique features of the online world may be influencing: a) attentional capacities, as the constantly evolving stream of online information encourages our divided attention across multiple media sources, at the expense of sustained concentration; b) memory processes, as this vast and ubiquitous source of online information begins to shift the way we retrieve, store, and even value knowledge; and c) social cognition, as the ability for online social settings to resemble and evoke real‐world social processes creates a new interplay between the Internet and our social lives, including our self‐concepts and self‐esteem. Overall, the available evidence indicates that the Internet can produce both acute and sustained alterations in each of these areas of cognition, which may be reflected in changes in the brain. However, an emerging priority for future research is to determine the effects of extensive online media usage on cognitive development in youth, and examine how this may differ from cognitive outcomes and brain impact of uses of Internet in the elderly. We conclude by proposing how Internet research could be integrated into broader research settings to study how this unprecedented new facet of society can affect our cognition and the brain across the life course.

The Internet is the most widespread and rapidly adopted technology in the history of humanity. In only decades, Internet use has completely re‐invented the ways in which we search for information, consume media and entertainment, and manage our social networks and relationships. With the even more recent advent of smartphones, Internet access has become portable and ubiquitous to the point at which the population of the developed world can be considered “online” 1 , 2 , 3 .

However, the impact that this new channel for connection, information, communication, and screen time is having on our brains and cognitive functioning is unclear. Prior to the Internet, a large body of research had convincingly demonstrated that the brain is somewhat malleable to environmental demands and stimuli, particularly with regards to learning new processes, due to its capacity for neuroplasticity 4 . Various scenarios have been observed to induce long‐term changes in the neuronal architecture of the human brain, including second‐language acquisition 5 , learning new motor skills (such as juggling) 6 , and even formal education or exam preparation 7 . The widespread use of the Internet across the globe has introduced, for many, the necessity and opportunity to learn a myriad of new skills and ways to interact with society, which could bring about neural changes. As an example, even simple interactions with the Internet through the smartphone's touchscreen interface have been demonstrated to bring about sustained neurocognitive alterations due to neural changes in cortical regions associated with sensory and motor processing of the hand and thumb 8 . Beyond this, the Internet also presents a novel platform for almost‐endless learning of new information and complex processes, relevant to both the online and offline world 9 .

Along with neuroplastic mechanisms, other environmental and biological factors can also cause changes in the brain's structure and function, resulting in cognitive decline 10 . In aging samples, for instance, there is evidence to indicate that age‐related cognitive decline may be partly driven by a process of atrophy. Some studies have shown that adopting a less engaging lifestyle across the lifespan may accelerate loss of cognitive function 11 , due to lower “cognitive reserve” (the ability of the brain to withstand insult from age and/or pathology) 12 . Some emerging evidence indicates that disengaging from the “real world” in favor of virtual settings may similarly induce adverse neurocognitive changes. For example, a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) 13 found that six weeks of engaging in an online role playing game caused significant reductions in grey matter within the orbitofrontal cortex – a brain region implicated in impulse control and decision making. However, the study did not address the extent to which these results were specific to online gaming, rather than general internet usage. Nonetheless, this raises the possibility that various types of Internet usage could differentially affect the brain and cognitive processes – in both adverse and beneficial ways. This may be of particular relevance to the developing brains of children and adolescents, as many cognitive processes (particularly those relevant to higher executive functions and social cognition) are not entirely innate, but rather are strongly influenced by environmental factors 14 .

Although only recently emerging, this possibility has led to a substantial body of research empirically investigating the multiple potential pathways through which the Internet could affect our brains’ structure, function, and cognitive development. Specifically, the bulk of existing research can be separated into three specific domains, examining how the internet is affecting: a) attention (i.e., how the constant influx of online information, prompts and notifications competing for our attention may encourage individuals to displace their concentration across multiple incoming media streams – and the consequences this may have for attentional‐switching versus sustained‐attention tasks); b) memory and knowledge (i.e., the extent to which we rely on the Internet as our primary informational resource, and how unique properties of online information access may affect how we process new memories and value our internal knowledge); c) social cognition (along with the personal and societal consequences of increasingly embedding our social networks, interactions, and status within the online world).

In this state‐of‐the‐art review, we present the current leading hypotheses of how the Internet may alter these cognitive processes, subsequently examining the extent to which these hypotheses are supported by recent findings from psychological, psychiatric and neuroimaging research. In this way, we aggregate the contemporary evidence arising from multiple fields of research to produce revised models on how the Internet may be affecting our brains and cognition. Furthermore, whereas studies to date have focused upon only specific age groups, we examine the effects of the Internet on the human brain across the entire life course. In particular, we explore how the potential benefits/drawbacks of extensive Internet integration with cognitive processes may differ among children and older adults. Finally, we identify important gaps in the existing literature to present key priorities for future research in order to gain new insights for minimizing detrimental effects of the Internet, while capitalizing on this new feature of our societies to potentially influence neurocognitive processes in a beneficial way.

“DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS”: A HIJACK OF ATTENTION ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY?

How does the internet gain and sustain our attention.

The Internet consumes a considerable chunk of our attention on a day‐to‐day basis. The vast majority of adults go online daily, and over a quarter report being online “almost constantly” 2 . Within this, one in five American adults are now “smartphone‐only” Internet users 1 . Importantly, the introduction of these Internet‐enabled mobile devices has also reduced the “digital divide” previously experienced by lower and middle income countries 15 . The amount and frequency of Internet usage is even more pronounced amongst younger people. Most adults today witnessed the beginning of the transition from “Internet‐free” to “Internet‐everywhere” societies. However, younger generations (termed “digital natives” 16 ) have been brought up entirely within a “connected world” , particularly in developed countries. Consequently, digital natives are often the first to adopt new online technologies as they arise 16 , and engage extensively with all existing features of the Internet. For instance, 95% of US teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% are online “almost constantly” 3 .

Multiple factors are driving the rapid uptake and extensive usage of Internet‐enabled technologies across the globe. This is partly due to the Internet now being unavoidable, ubiquitous, and a highly functional aspect of modern living. For instance, Internet use is now deeply entwined with education, travel, socializing, commerce, and the majority of workplaces. Along with pragmatic uses, the Internet also offers an endless array of recreational and entertainment activities, through podcasts, e‐books, videos, streaming movies and gaming. However, the ability of the Internet to capture and hold attention is not solely due to the quality of media content available online. Rather, it is also driven by the underlying design and presentation of the online world. One such example is the self‐evolving “attraction mechanism”; whereby aspects of the Internet that fail to gain attention are quickly drowned out in the sea of incoming information, while the successful aspects of the adverts, articles, apps or anything that does manage to capture our attention (even superficially) are logged (through clicks and scrolls), noticed (through online shares), and subsequently proliferated and expanded upon. Alongside this, leading technology companies have been accused of intentionally capitalizing on the addictive potential of Internet, by studying, testing, and refining the attention‐grabbing aspects of their websites and applications (“apps”) to promote extremely high levels of engagement, without due concern for user well‐being 17 .

Furthermore, even when not using the Internet for any specific purpose, smartphones have introduced widespread and habitual “checking” behaviours, characterized by quick but frequent inspections of the device for incoming information from news, social media, or personal contacts 18 . These habits are thought to be the result of behavioural reinforcement from “information rewards” that are received immediately on checking the device 19 , potentially engaging the cortico‐striatal dopaminergic system due to their readily available nature 20 . The variable‐ratio reinforcement schedule inherent to device checking may further perpetuate these compulsive behaviours 21 .

Cognitive consequences of the attention‐grabbing Internet

The unprecedented potential of the Internet to capture our attention presents an urgent need for understanding the impact that this may have on our thought processes and well‐being. Already, education providers are beginning to perceive detrimental effects of the Internet on children's attention, with over 85% of teachers endorsing the statement that “today's digital technologies are creating an easily distracted generation” 22 . The primary hypothesis on how the Internet affects our attentional capacities is through hyperlinks, notifications, and prompts providing a limitless stream of different forms of digital media, thus encouraging us to interact with multiple inputs simultaneously, but only on a shallow level, in a behavioural pattern termed “media multi‐tasking” 23 , 24 .

The seminal study by Ophir et al 23 was among the first to explore the sustained impact of media multi‐tasking on cognitive capacities. This was a cross‐sectional study of individuals who engaged in “heavy” (i.e., frequent and extensive) media multi‐tasking compared to those who did not. Cognitive testing of the two groups produced the then‐surprising finding that those involved in heavy media multi‐tasking performed worse in task‐switching tests than their counterparts – contrary to the authors’ expectation that the “extra practice” afforded by frequent media multi‐tasking would confer cognitive benefit in task‐switching scenarios. Closer inspection of findings suggested that the impeded task‐switching ability in heavy media multi‐tasking individuals was due to their increased susceptibility to distraction from irrelevant environmental stimuli 23 .

Since these initial findings, the effects of media multi‐tasking on cognition have come under increasing scrutiny, because the increasingly diverse forms of entertainment and activities available through the online world can further our capabilities (and temptation) of engaging in media multi‐tasking 25 , even on single devices. For instance, Yeykelis et al 26 measured participants’ media multi‐tasking between different types of online media content while using just one device (personal laptops), and found that switches occurred as frequently as every 19 seconds, with 75% of all on‐screen content being viewed for less than one minute. Measures of skin conductance during the study found that arousal increased in the seconds leading up to media switching, reaching a high point at the moment of the switch, followed by a decline afterward 26 . Again, this suggests that the proclivity for alternating between different computer windows, opening new hyperlinks, and performing new searches could be driven by the readily available nature of the informational rewards, which are potentially awaiting in the unattended media stream. Supporting this, the study also found that, whereas switching from work‐related content to entertainment was associated with increased arousal in anticipation of the switch, there was no anticipatory arousal spike associated with entertainment to work‐content switches 26 .

The growing concern around the increasing amount of media multi‐tasking with the spread of ubiquitous Internet access has resulted in further empirical studies. These have produced conflicting findings, with some failing to find any adverse effects on attention 27 , and others indicating that media multi‐tasking may even be linked to increased performance for other aspects of cognition, such as multisensory integration 28 . Nonetheless the literature, on balance, does seem to indicate that those who engage in frequent and extensive media multi‐tasking in their day‐to‐day lives perform worse in various cognitive tasks than those who do not, particularly for sustained attention 25 .

Imaging studies have shed light onto the neural differences which may account for these cognitive deficits. Functionally, those who engage in heavy media multi‐tasking perform poorer in distracted attention tasks, even though exhibiting greater activity in right prefrontal regions 29 . As right prefrontal regions are typically activated in response to distractor stimuli, the observed increases in recruitment of these regions alongside poorer performance suggests that heavy media multi‐taskers require greater cognitive effort to maintain concentration when faced with distractor stimuli 29 . Structurally, high levels of Internet usage 30 and heavy media multi‐tasking 31 are associated with decreased grey matter in prefrontal regions associated with maintaining goals in face of distraction (such as the right frontal pole and anterior cingulate cortex). However, the findings to date must be interpreted with caution, as various confounding factors may be affecting the results of these cross‐sectional imaging studies. Although the differences persist when controlling for general digital media use and other simple confounders (age, gender, etc.), further research is required to examine if the observed neural differences are specifically attributable to heavy vs. light media multi‐tasking, or in fact driven by broader differences in lifestyle between the two groups.

Given the amount of time that people now spend in media multi‐tasking via personal digital devices, it is increasingly relevant to consider not only sustained changes which arise in those who engage in large amounts of media multi‐tasking, but also the acute effects on immediate cognitive capacities. A meta‐analysis of 41 studies showed that engaging in multi‐tasking was associated with significantly poorer overall cognitive performance, with a moderate‐to‐large effect size (Cohen's d=–0.71, 95% CI: –0.86 to –0.57). This has been confirmed by more recent studies, further showing that even short‐term engagement with an extensively hyperlinked online environment (i.e., online shopping for 15 minutes) reduces attentional scope for a sustained duration after coming offline, whereas reading a magazine does not produce these deficits 32 .

Overall, the available evidence strongly indicates that engaging in multi‐tasking via digital media does not improve our multi‐tasking performance in other settings – and in fact seems to decrease this cognitive capacity through reducing our ability to ignore incoming distractions. Much of the multi‐tasking investigations so far have been focusing on personal computers. However, smartphone technologies may even further encourage people to engage in media multi‐tasking through high rates of incoming prompts from emails, direct messages and social media notifications occurring while both using and not using the device. Thus, along with determining long‐term consequences of media multi‐tasking, future research should examine how the constant multi‐tasking made possible by Internet‐enabled mobile devices may impact daily functioning through acute but high frequency effects.

Furthermore, both the immediate and chronic effects of media multi‐tasking are relatively unexplored in children and adolescents, who are the prime users of such technologies 33 and are at a phase of development that is crucial for refining higher cognitive abilities 14 . The first longitudinal study of media multi‐tasking in young people has recently found that frequent multi‐tasking behaviours do predict the development of attentional deficits specifically in early adolescents, but not in older teens 34 . Additionally, extensive media multi‐tasking during childhood and adolescence could also negatively impact cognitive development through indirect means, by reducing engagement with academic and social activities, as well as by interfering with sleep 35 , or reducing the opportunity to engage in creative thinking 36 , 37 . Clearly, further research is necessary to properly measure the effects of ubiquitous computing on children's cognitive development, and to find practical ways for ameliorating any detrimental impact this may be having.

“iFORMATION”: NEUROCOGNITIVE RESPONSES TO ONLINE INFORMATION GATHERING

The internet and transactive memory.

In response to the question “How has the Internet changed your life?” , some common answers include finding new friends, renewing old friendships, studying online, finding romantic relationships, furthering career opportunities, shopping, and travel 38 . However, the most common answer is people stating that the Internet has “changed the way in which they access information” 38 . Indeed, for the first time in human history, the majority of people living in the developed world have access to almost all factual information in existence literally at their fingertips.

Along with the obvious advantages, this unique situation also introduces the possibility of the Internet ultimately negating or replacing the need for certain human memory systems – particularly for aspects of “semantic memory” (i.e., memory of facts) – which are somewhat independent from other types of memory in the human brain 39 . An initial indication of Internet information gathering affecting typical memory processes was provided by Sparrow et al 40 , who demonstrated that the ability to access information online caused people to become more likely to remember where these facts could be retrieved rather than the facts themselves, indicating that people quickly become reliant on the Internet for information retrieval.

It could be argued that this is not unique to the Internet, but rather just an example of the online world acting as a form of external memory or “transactive memory” 40 , 41 . Transactive memory has been an integral part of human societies for millennia, and refers to the process by which people opt to outsource information to other individuals within their families, communities, etc., such that they are able to just remember the source of the knowledge, rather than attempting to store all of this information themselves 41 . Although beneficial at a group level, using transactive memory systems does reduce an individual's ability to recall the specifics of the externally stored information 42 . This may be due to individuals using transactive memory for “cognitive offloading” , implicitly reducing their allocation of cognitive resources towards remembering this information, since they know this will be available for future reference externally. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in multiple contexts, including those of team work 43 and other “non‐Internet” technologies (e.g., photography reducing individuals’ memories of the objects they photographed) 44 .

However, it is becoming clear that the Internet actually presents something entirely novel and distinct from previous transactive memory systems 45 , 46 . Crucially, the Internet seems to bypass the “transactional” aspect that is inherent to other forms of cognitive offloading in two ways. First, the Internet does not place any responsibility on the user to retain unique information for others to draw upon (as would typically be required in human societies) 45 . Second, unlike other transactive memory stores, the Internet acts as a single entity that is responsible for holding and retrieving virtually all factual information, and thus does not require individuals to remember what exact information is externally stored, or even where it is located. In this way, the Internet is becoming a “supernormal stimulus” 46 for transactive memory – making all other options for cognitive offloading (including books, friends, community) become redundant, as they are outcompeted by the novel capabilities for external information storage and retrieval made possible by the Internet.

How does a supernormal stimulus interact with normal cognition?

Unfortunately, the rapid methods of acquisition and constant availability of information afforded by the Internet may not necessarily lead to better use of information gained. For instance, an experimental study 47 found that individuals instructed to search for specific information online completed the information gathering task faster than those using printed encyclopedias, but were subsequently less able to recall the information accurately.

During Internet and encyclopedia information gathering tasks, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine activation in the ventral and dorsal streams. These regions are referred to as the “what” and “where” streams, respectively, due to their indicated roles in storing either the specific content (ventral stream) or external location (dorsal stream) of incoming information 47 . Although there was no difference in activation of the dorsal stream, results showed that the poorer recall of Internet‐sought information compared to encyclopedia‐based learning was associated with reduced activation of the ventral (“what”) stream during online information gathering. These findings further support the possibility, initially raised by Sparrow et al 40 , that online information gathering, while faster, may fail to sufficiently recruit brain regions for storing information on a long‐term basis.

The potential for online searching to produce a sustained impact upon our cognitive processes has been investigated in a series of studies examining pre‐post changes following a six‐day Internet search training paradigm. In these studies, young adults were given an hour per day of Internet search tasks, and undertook an array of cognitive and neuroimaging assessments pre‐ and post‐training. Results showed that the six‐day Internet search training reduced regional homogeneity and functional connectivity of brain areas involved in long‐term memory formation and retrieval (e.g., temporal gyrus) 48 . This indicates that a reliance on online searching may impede memory retrieval by reducing the functional connectivity and synchronization of associated brain regions 48 . Furthermore, when faced with new questions after the six days, the training had increased participants’ self‐reported impulses towards using the Internet to answer those questions, which was reflected in a recruitment of prefrontal brain areas required for behavioural and impulse control 49 . This increased propensity for relying on Internet searches for gathering new information has been replicated in subsequent studies 50 , and is in keeping with the “supernormal stimulus” nature of the Internet, potentially suggesting that online information gathering quickly trains people to become dependent on this tool when faced with unknown issues.

However, despite the possible adverse effects on regular “offline” memory, the six‐days training did make people more efficient at using the Internet for retrieving information, as participants became faster at the search tasks, with no loss of accuracy 51 . Search training also produced increases in white matter integrity of the fiber tracts connecting the frontal, occipital, parietal and temporal lobes, significantly more than the non‐search control condition 52 . In other studies, cognitive offloading via digital devices has also been found to improve people's ability to focus on aspects that are not immediately retrievable, and thus remember these better in the future 53 .

These findings seem to support the emergent hypotheses that relying on the Internet for factual memory storage may actually produce cognitive benefit in other areas, perhaps by “freeing up” cognitive resources 54 , and thus enabling us to use our newly available cognitive capacities for more ambitious undertakings than previously possible 45 . Researchers advocating this view have pointed to multiple domains of collective human endeavor that have already been transformed by the Internet's provision of supernormal transactive memory, such as education, journalism and even academia 55 . As online technologies continue to advance (particularly with regards to “wearables”), it is conceivable that the performance benefits from the Internet, which are already visible at the societal level, could ultimately become integrated within individuals themselves, enabling new heights of cognitive function 56 .

Unfortunately, however, a more sobering finding with regards to the immediate possibility of ubiquitous Internet access enabling new heights of human intelligence is provided by Barr et al 57 , who observed that analytical thinkers, with higher cognitive capacities, actually use their smartphone less for transactive memory in day‐to‐day situations compared to individuals with non‐analytical thinking styles. Furthermore, the reduced smartphone usage in analytical versus non‐analytical thinkers was specific to online information searching, with no differences in social media or entertainment usages, thus indicating that the differences are likely due to the Internet furthering “cognitive miserliness” among less analytical thinkers 57 .

Alongside this, the increasing reliance on the Internet for information may cause individuals to “blur the lines” between their own capabilities and their devices’ 58 . In a series of experiments, Fisher et al 59 investigated how the Internet influences our self‐perceived knowledge. Results showed that online searching increases our sense of how much we know, even though the illusion of self‐knowledge is only perceived for the domains in which the Internet can “fill in the gaps” for us. The experiments also demonstrated how quickly individuals internalized the Internet's external knowledge as their own – as even immediately after using the Internet to answer the task questions, participants attributed their higher quality explanations to “increased brain activity” . More recent studies have shown that illusions of self‐knowledge similarly persist when using smartphones to retrieve online information 58 . As individuals become more and more connected with their personal digital devices (which are also always accessible), it seems inevitable that the distinction between self and Internet's abilities will become increasingly elusive, potentially creating a constant illusion of “greater than actual knowledge” among large portions of the population.

Overall, the Internet clearly can provide a “superstimulus” for transactive memory, which is already changing the way we store, retrieve, and even value knowledge. However, with popular online information sources such as Google and Wikipedia less than 20 years old, it is currently not possible to ascertain how this may eventually be reflected in long‐term changes to the structure and function of the human brain. Nonetheless, our constant connection with the online world through personal devices (i.e., smartphones), along with the emerging potential for more direct integration through wearable devices, certainly indicates that we are set to become more reliant on the Internet for factual information as time goes on. Also, whereas the studies described above have focused on factual knowledge, the Internet is also now becoming a superstimulus for spatial information (through providing constant access to online maps and global positioning system). As spatial memory is somewhat independent from semantic memory in the human brain 60 , further research should investigate the multitude of ways in which extensive use of these external memory systems may reduce, enhance or alter our cognitive capacities.

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS: FAULTY CONNECTIONS, OR FALSE DICHOTOMY?

Human sociality in the online world.

Social relationships and having a sense of connection are important determinants of happiness and stress relief 61 , 62 , mental and physical well‐being 63 , 64 , and even mortality 65 . Over the past decade, the proportion of an individual's social interactions that take place online within social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) has grown dramatically 66 , 67 , and our connection with these sites is now strongly meshed with the offline world. The real‐world implications of this are perhaps best evidenced by the critical role that social media have played in multiple global affairs, including reportedly starting and precipitating the London Riots, the Occupy movement 68 , and even the Arab Spring 69 , along with potentially influencing the outcomes of the UK's European Union Referendum (“Brexit”) 70 and the 2016 US elections 71 . Clearly, understanding the shift from real‐world interactions into the online social environment (and vice versa) holds significance to almost all aspects of people's lives.

Our motivations towards using social media is broadly similar to the instinctual desires underlying “real world” social interactions, as people are drawn to online sociality in order to exchange information and ideas, along with gaining social support and friendships 72 . However, whether or not these virtual interactions engage the human brain in ways analogous to real‐world socialization remains a topic of debate since the turn of the century 73 . Whereas it would be highly beneficial if social media sites could fulfil the implicit human needs for social connection, it may be that the distinction between online and offline networks is so great that entirely different cognitive domains are involved in navigating these different environments 74 , 75 .

How does the online environment affect our fundamental social structures?

To investigate the neuroimaging correlates of offline and online networks, the seminal study by Kanai et al 74 collected real‐world social network size, online sociality (i.e., Facebook friends) and magnetic resonance imaging scans from 125 participants. Results showed that both real‐world social network size and number of Facebook friends were significantly associated with amygdala volume. As this has previously been established as a key brain region for social cognition and social network size 76 , these results present a strong case for the overlap between online and offline sociality in the human brain.

However, those authors also found that the grey matter volume of other brain regions (specifically, posterior regions of the middle temporal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus, and the right entorhinal cortex) were predicted by the numbers of participants’ Facebook friends, but held no relationship to their real‐world social networks. This suggests that certain unique aspects of social media implicate aspects of the brain that are not central in “real‐world” social settings. For instance, the tendency for online networks to encourage us towards holding many weak social connections, involving thousands of face‐to‐name pairs, could require high associative memory capacities, which is not typically required in real‐world networks (as these are comprised of fewer, but more familiar, relationships) 74 . As associative memory formation for name‐face pairs involves the right entorhinal cortex 77 , 78 , this could explain the exclusive relationship that this region holds with online social (but not real‐world) network size 74 .

Indeed, one key difference which may separate how the brain handles online and offline social networks is the unique capacity afforded by the Internet for people to hold, and simultaneously interact with, millions of “friendships” 79 , 80 . Empirical testing of this hypothesis is a most fruitful area of investigation stemming from research into the fundamental similarities and differences between these two social worlds at a biological level 66 . When defining “friendships” under a broad context (people who maintain contact and share an emotional bond) 66 , two patterns are prominent across a diverse range of real‐world social networks: a) the average individual has around 150 “friendships” (but this is highly variable between individuals), and b) this is made up of five hierarchical layers, consisting of primary partners, intimate relationships, best friends, close friends, and all friends, which follow a size‐scaling ratio of around 3 (i.e., each cumulative layer is 3 times bigger than the last), and therefore have set average (cumulative/inclusive) sizes of 1.5, 5, 15, 50 and 150 respectively 66 . The patterns of the average number of 150 total friendship connections, and the scaling sizes of the five hierarchical layers of relationships making this up, have been found across regions and time periods within various human organizations, ranging from hunter‐gatherer societies 81 , 82 and historical village populations 83 , armies 66 , residential camps 84 , to personal networks of modern Europeans 85 .

Thus, given the unprecedented potential that online social networks allow in terms of number of connections, and the varied contexts these take place over 79 , 80 , it is imaginable that this extraordinary environment may allow these two apparently set aspects of real‐world social networks to be bypassed. However, recent findings have confirmed that user‐to‐user friendship connections, posting patterns and exchanges within Twitter, Facebook, and even online gaming platforms, all indicate a similar average number of general friendships (around 150, despite high skew), along with maintaining the same scaled sizes of the hierarchical structure of the five distinct friendship layers (as determined by reciprocal communication exchanges) 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 . Therefore, even within the unique realms of online social networks, the most fundamental operations of human social networks appear to remain relatively unchanged 88 , 89 . So, it is highly conceivable that the social connections formed in the online world are processed in similar ways to those of the offline world, and thus have much potential to carry over from the Internet to shape “real‐world” sociality, including our social interactions and our perceptions of social hierarchies, in ways that are not restricted to the context of the Internet.

The driving forces that sustain the set structural patterns of social networks, even when faced with the immense connective potential of the online world, may be broadly explained by two overlapping mechanisms. First, constraints on social cognition within the human brain seem to carry over across social contexts 66 . For instance, humans struggle to engagingly interact with more than three individuals simultaneously in the real world, and this limitation on attention also appears to apply online 90 , 91 . This evidence is in agreement with the hypothesis that circumventing the cognitive constraints on social relationships may be difficult even when technology affords unnatural opportunities to do so 88 .

The second driver of set boundaries on social activity is that simple underlying factors may produce social constraints, even within online settings. Most obviously, investment in social relationships is limited by time constraints, and this may contribute to the set patterns of both the number and type of social connections 93 , 94 . In line with this, analyses across various social contexts have shown that temporal limitations govern the number of social interactions that individuals engage in, and how they distribute these across their different kinds of relationships 93 , 94 . Again, these general interaction rates remain similar within online social networks 87 , 88 .

The possibility that the parameters on all social networks (online or offline) are governed by basic underlying factors is further supported by research showing that similar structures also exist within simpler social systems, such as animal societies 66 , 95 . For instance, the sizes and scaling of hierarchical “friendship” layers found in online and offline human networks are also found in dolphins, elephants, and various primate species 96 , and the phenomena of humans increasing the number and strength of their social networks connections following the death of a friend on Facebook 97 is also seen in wild birds, which show compensatory up‐regulation of their social network connections upon experiencing the loss of a social associate 98 .

Supporting the idea that limited cognitive capacities govern our social structures is research showing that the brain regions predicting individual variation in social network size in humans also do so for macaques 99 . Strong support for simple underlying factors (such as time) governing our general patterning of social interactions can be found in studies demonstrating that entirely computationally simulated systems replicate some of the apparent complexities of human social networks, even under relatively simple rules 100 , 101 . Examples include agent‐based models generating similar social layering structures as humans when sociality is defined as time‐limited 100 .

In light of the current evidence regarding how the Internet may have affected human thinking surrounding social networks, it is undeniable that the online environment poses unique potential and context for social activity 79 , 80 , 102 , 103 , which may invoke some non‐identical cognitive processes and brain areas in comparison to the offline world 74 , 75 . Nevertheless, aside from these comparatively fine‐scale differences, it appears that our brains process the online and offline social networks in surprisingly similar ways, as demonstrated by the shared cognitive capacities and simple underlying factors ultimately governing their fundamental structure 87 , 88 . As such, the online social world has very significant implications for not only measuring and understanding human sociality, but also for governing the outcomes of social processes across various aspects of life.

Social cognitive responses to the online social world

Given the evidence above, an appropriate metaphor for the relationship between online and real‐world sociality could be a “new playing field for the same game” . Even beyond the fundamental structure, emerging research suggests that neurocognitive responses to online social occurrences are similar to those of real‐life interactions. For instance, being rejected online has been shown to increase activity in brain regions strongly linked with social cognition and real‐world rejection (medial prefrontal cortex 104 ) in both adults and children 105 , 106 , 107 . However, within the “same old game” of human sociality, online social media is bending some of the rules – potentially at the expense of users 17 . For instance, whereas real‐world acceptance and rejection is often ambiguous and open to self‐interpretation, social media platforms directly quantify our social success (or failure), by providing clear metrics in the form of “friends” , “followers” , and “likes” (or the potentially painful loss/absence of these) 107 . Given the addictive nature of this immediate, self‐defining feedback, social media companies may even capitalize upon this to maximally engage users 17 . However, growing evidence indicates that relying on online feedback for self‐esteem can have adverse effects on young people, particularly those with low social‐emotional well‐being, due to high rates of cyberbullying 108 , increased anxiety and depression 109 , 110 , and increased perceptions of social isolation and exclusion among those who feel rejected online 111 .

Another process common to human social behaviour in both online and offline worlds is the tendency to make upward social comparisons 112 , 113 . Whereas these can be adaptive and beneficial under regular environmental conditions 112 , this implicit cognitive process can also be hijacked by the artificial environmental manufactured on social media 113 , 114 , which showcases hyper‐successful individuals constantly putting their best foot forward, and even using digital manipulation of images to inflate physical attractiveness. By facilitating exposure to these drastically upward social comparisons (which would rarely be encountered in everyday life), online social media can produce unrealistic expectations of oneself – leading to poor body image and negative self‐concept, particularly for younger people 107 , 111 , 115 , 116 . For instance, in adolescents (particularly females), those who spent more time on social media and smartphones have a greater prevalence of mental health problems, including depression, than those who spent more time on “non‐screen” activities 116 , with greater than 5 hrs/day (versus 1 hr/day) associated with a 66% increased risk of one suicide‐related outcome 117 .

However, a causal relationship between high levels of social media use and poorer mental health is currently difficult to establish, as there is most likely a complex interaction between several confounding factors, including reduced sleep and in‐person social interaction, and increased sedentary behaviour and perceived loneliness 116 , 118 . Nonetheless, given the large amounts of social media use observed among young people, future research should thoroughly examine the potentially detrimental effects that this new setting for sociality may have on health and well‐being, along with aiming to establish the driving factors – such that adjustments can be made in subsequent iterations of social media in order to produce more positive outcomes.

Whereas young people with mental disorders may be the most vulnerable to negative input from social media, these media may also present a new platform for improving mental health in this population, if used correctly. In future, social media may also be exploited to promote ongoing engagement with Internet‐based interventions, while addressing key (but frequently neglected) targets such as social connectedness, social support and self‐efficacy, to aim to bring about sustained functional improvements in severe and complex mental health conditions 119 . To achieve these goals, online social media‐based interventions need to be designed to promote engagement by harnessing, in an ethical and transparent manner, effective strategies used by the industry. For instance, developing technologies which are increasingly adopted by online marketing and tech companies, such as natural language processing, sentiment analyses and machine learning, could be capitalized upon, for example making it possible to identify those at increased risk for suicide or relapse 120 , and rationalizing human driven support to those who need it most at the time they need it 121 . In addition, online systems will be able to learn from what helps individuals and when, opening a window into personalized, real time interventions 121 .

While the use of online social media‐based interventions is in its infancy, pioneering efforts indicate that these interventions are safe, engaging, and have the potential to improve clinical and social outcomes in both patients and their relatives 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 , 127 . That said, online interventions have failed up to now to be adopted by mental health services 128 , 129 . The main reasons include high attrition rates, poor study designs which reduce translational potential, and a lack of consensus around the required standards of evidence for widespread implementation of Internet‐delivered therapies 130 , 131 , 132 . Efforts are currently underway to determine the long‐term effects of the first generation of social media‐based interventions for mental illness via large randomized controlled trials 133 , 134 . Alongside this clinical use, developing public health strategies for young adults in the general population to avoid the potential adverse effects and negative aspects of typical social media are also warranted.

CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTIONS

As digital technologies become increasingly integrated with everyday life, the Internet is becoming highly proficient at capturing our attention, while producing a global shift in how people gather information, and connect with one another. In this review, we found emerging support for several hypotheses regarding the pathways through which the Internet is influencing our brains and cognitive processes, particularly with regards to: a) the multi‐faceted stream of incoming information encouraging us to engage in attentional‐switching and “multi‐tasking” , rather than sustained focus; b) the ubiquitous and rapid access to online factual information outcompeting previous transactive systems, and potentially even internal memory processes; c) the online social world paralleling “real world” cognitive processes, and becoming meshed with our offline sociality, introducing the possibility for the special properties of social media to impact on “real life” in unforeseen ways.

However, with fewer than 30 years since the Internet became publicly available, the long‐term effects have yet to be established. Within this, it seems particularly important that future research determines the impact of the Internet on us throughout different points in the lifespan. For instance, the Internet's digital distractions and supernormal capacities for cognitive offloading seem to create a non‐ideal environment for the refinement of higher cognitive functions in critical periods of children and adolescents’ brain development. Indeed, the first longitudinal studies on this topic have found that adverse attentional effects of digital multi‐tasking are particularly pronounced in early adolescence (even compared to older teens) 34 , and that higher frequency of Internet use over 3 years in children is linked with decreased verbal intelligence at follow‐up, along with impeded maturation of both grey and white matter regions 135 .

On the other hand, the opposite may be true in older adults experiencing cognitive decline, for whom the online environment may provide a new source of positive cognitive stimulation. For instance, Internet searching engaged more neural circuitry than reading text pages in Internet savvy older adults (aged 55‐76 years) 9 . Furthermore, experimental studies have found that computer games available online and through smartphones can be used to attenuate aging‐related cognitive decline 136 , 137 , 138 . Thus, the Internet may present a novel and accessible platform for adults to maintain cognitive function throughout old age. Building from this, successful cognitive aging has previously been shown to be dependent upon learning and deploying cognitive strategies, which can compensate for aging‐related decline in “raw” memory capacities 139 . This has previously been referred to as optimizing internal cognitive processes (e.g., through mnemonic strategies), or taking advantage of cognitive offloading in traditional formats (list making, transactive memory, etc.) 139 . Nonetheless, as Internet‐based technologies become more deeply integrated with our daily cognitive processing (through smartphones, wearables, etc.), digital natives could feasibly develop forms of “online cognition” in the aging brain, whereby older adults can increasingly take advantage of web‐based transactive memory and other emerging online processes to fulfil (or even exceed) the typical capacities of a younger brain.

Although it is an emerging area of study, the same could apply for social aspects of the online world. Whereas young people seem particularly prone to the rejections, peer pressure, and negative appraisals this world may induce 107 , older adults may ultimately be able to harness social media in order to overcome isolation and thus continue to benefit from the diverse range of physical, mental and neurocognitive benefits associated with social connection 73 . Viewed collectively, the nascent research in this area already indicates that equivalent types of Internet usage may have differential effects on individuals’ cognitive and social functioning depending on their point in the lifespan.

For better or for worse, we are already conducting a mass‐scale experiment of extensive Internet usage across the global population. A more fine‐scale analysis is essential to gaining a fuller understanding of the sustained impact of this usage across our society. This could include measuring frequency, duration and types of Internet usage as a standard part of national data projects, for instance through collecting Internet data (from either device‐based or self‐report measures) in “biobank” assessment protocols. Combining this with the extensive genetic, socio‐demographic, lifestyle and neuroimaging data gathered by some ongoing projects, researchers could be able to establish the impact of Internet usage on psychological well‐being and brain functioning across entire populations (rather than the currently limited study samples), while also controlling for multiple confounders.

Overall, this early phase of the Internet's introduction into our society is a crucial period for commencing rigorous and extensive research into how different types of Internet usage interact with human cognition, in order to maximize our opportunities for harnessing this new tool in a beneficial manner, while minimizing the potentially adverse effects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

J. Firth is supported by a Blackmores Institute Fellowship. J. Sarris is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Research Fellowship (APP1125000). B. Stubbs is supported by the Health Education England and the National Institute for Health Research Integrated Clinical Academic Programme Clinical Lectureship (ICA‐CL‐2017‐03‐001). G.Z. Steiner is supported by an NHMRC‐Australian Research Council (ARC) Dementia Research Development Fellowship (APP1102532). M. Alvarez‐Jimenez is supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (APP1082934). C.J. Armitage is supported by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre and NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the above‐mentioned entities.

Essay on Uses of Internet for Students and Children

500 words essay on uses of internet.

The Internet has become a sensation nowadays. It is something that humans cannot function without anymore. It has occupied a great part of our lives. We use the internet for almost every little and a big task now. It ranges from searching for a job to listening to music.

The Internet has basically made our lives easier and convenient. The world is at our fingertips now, thanks to the internet. When we see how it has changed the scenario of the modern world, we can’t help but notice its importance. It is used in all spheres of life now.

Internet and Communication

The world has become smaller because of the internet. Now we can communicate with our loved ones oceans away. The days of letter writing are gone where we had to wait for weeks to get a reply. Everything is instant now. Even though telephones allowed us to do that, but the cost was too high. The common man could not afford to call people overseas because of the costs.

However, the internet changed that. Communicating with people both near and far is now easy and affordable. We can send them emails and chat with them through instant messaging apps. We may also video call them using the internet which allows us to see them clearly even though we are miles away.

Furthermore, we can now get instant news updates from all over the world. The moment anything takes place anywhere in the world, we get to know about it. In addition, we are informed about the natural calamities within the correct time. Moreover, we can easily contact our job recruiters using the internet. Job application has been made so much easier through the internet.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Internet and Entertainment

Entertainment and the Internet go hand in hand now. Everything is at your fingertips to enjoy. You can book movie tickets easily on the internet. Gone are the days of waiting in long queues to get the ticket for the latest movie. It can all be done through the comfort of your home. Similarly, you can also book match tickets and concert tickets without going through the hassle of standing in long lines.

In addition, we can now do all our shopping online. You won’t have to go out in the harsh weather to shop for stuff. The Internet allows you to browse through a large assortment of products with all the details given. It ranges from something as small as a mug to a laptop, you can have it all. Furthermore, you may also filter the categories to find exactly what you are looking for within seconds.

Nowadays, web series are quite a hit amongst the youth. They do not watch TV anymore; rather they enjoy the web series. Various platforms have created shows which they release on the internet that has a major fan following. You can get your daily dose of entertainment from the internet now. Whether you want to hear the latest music, you don’t have to spend a hefty amount to buy the CD. You can simply listen to it on the internet.

Thus, we see how the internet has changed and made our lives easy in various ways. We can connect with our loved ones easily and get access to unlimited entertainment instantly.

FAQs on Uses of Internet

Q.1 How does the internet help in communicating?

A.1 We can now communicate with our loved ones using the internet. We can video call them and connect with our relatives living overseas.

Q.2 What does internet offer in terms of entertainment?

A.2 Internet offers us various modes of entertainment. We can watch movies and shows online. We can also book tickets and shop for products online.

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How the internet can harm us, and what can we do about it?

The internet has received much negative news coverage in recent years.

Written by Gianluca Quaglio,

The internet has received much negative news coverage in recent years. Articles focus on major privacy scandals and security breaches, the proliferation of fake news, rampant harmful behaviours like cyber-bullying, cyber-theft, revenge porn, the exchange of child porn and internet predation, internet addiction, and the negative effects of the internet on social relations and social cohesion. Nevertheless, some 87 % of European households have internet access at home, and 65 % use mobile devices to access the internet. Europeans aged 16 to 24 years spend 168 minutes per day on mobile internet, dropping to 30 minutes for 55 to 64-year olds. Around 88 % of 15 to 24-year olds use social media, 80 % on a daily basis.

While the social and economic benefits of the internet cannot be denied, some of these developments can severely affect such European values as equality, respect for human rights and democracy. Technology companies are under increasing pressure to mitigate these harmful effects, and politicians and opinion leaders are advocating drastic measures.

The recently published STOA study on ‘Harmful internet use’ covers the damage associated with internet use on individuals’ health, wellbeing and functioning, and the impact on social structures and institutions. While the study does not attempt to cover all possible societal harm relating to the internet, Part I focuses on one specific cause of harm, internet addiction, and Part II covers a range of harmful effects on individuals and society that are associated with internet use. The report concludes with policy options for their prevention and mitigation.

Other studies have already extensively discussed some harmful effects, and these are already subject to a history of policy actions. These include harm to privacy, harm related to cybersecurity and cybercrime, and damage resulting from digital divides. In contrast, this study covers the less-studied but equally important harmful effects that concern individuals’ health, wellbeing and functioning, the quality of social structures and institutions, and equality and social inclusion.

Internet addiction and problematic internet use                             

Internet addiction and problematic internet use prevalence rates vary across studies and countries. The noteworthy discrepancy in prevalence estimates has a number of causes, including the different populations studied, as well as the various diagnostic tools and assessment criteria utilised. With this in mind, it appears that roughly 4 % of European adolescents demonstrate a pathological use of the internet that affects their life and health, while 13 % of adolescents engage in maladaptive behaviour when using the internet. Similar numbers are reported for adults.

Part I of the study focuses on generalised internet addiction, online gaming addiction, and online gambling addiction. Clinical presentations, patient profiling, comorbidities, instruments, interventions, and prognoses are different across these three potential addiction disorders. The study states that the individual, cultural and media-use context significantly contributes to the experience and severity of internet addiction.

The study proposes a set of preventive actions, and evidence to support future policies . It states that offering information, screening tools and campaigns to students in secondary schools and at universities regarding internet-use-related addiction problems can help, especially regarding gaming addiction in adolescent populations. This will require allocating research and resources for schools and their staff, and for families, as well as the establishment of working relationships with health professionals and services.

Harmful social and cultural effects associated with internet use

Part II of the study identifies a number of different harmful social and cultural effects associated with internet use. The evidence points to the occurrence of significant damage to both individuals and society. Some of these harmful effects are described briefly below:

Information overload: Having too much information to be able to adequately understand an issue or make effective decisions. Information overload is associated with loss of control, feelings of being overwhelmed, reduced intellectual performance, and diminished job satisfaction. Studies show that information overload affects up to 20-30% of people.

Damage to social relationships: Extensive internet use, of social media in particular, is correlated with loneliness and social isolation. Intimate relationships can be degraded by internet use, particularly due to viewing online pornography. Malicious online behaviour, particularly cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking and online predation, affects a significant percentage of internet users.

Impaired public/private boundaries: The way in which the internet and smartphones blur the distinction between private and public, and between different spheres of life, including work, home life and leisure, harms the boundaries between people’s public and private lives. Harmful effects that can result from such permeations include loss of quality of life, lack of privacy, decreased safety and security, and harm to social relations – when friends and family members feel they are left behind by new technology.

Harmful effects on cognitive development: Empirical evidence suggests that internet use can have both positive and negative impacts on cognitive development, depending on the person and the circumstances. There is evidence that children’s cognitive development can be damaged by prolonged internet use, including the development of memory skills, attention span, abilities for critical reasoning, language acquisition, reading, and learning abilities. More research is however needed to draw more reliable conclusions.

Damage to communities: Many off-line communities suffer through the partial migration of human activities – shopping, commerce, socialising, leisure activities, professional interactions – to the internet. Online communities sometimes extend off-line communities and sometimes replace them. They are often inadequate replacements, however, as they do not possess some of the valuable or the strongest qualities of off-line communities, and communities may consequently suffer from impoverished communication, incivility, and a lack of trust and commitment.

The study identifies a number of broad policy options for preventing and mitigating these harmful effects. They include, among other things:

• promoting technology that better protects social institutions, stimulating or requiring tech companies to introduce products and services that better protect social institutions and internet users;
• education about the internet and its consequences;
• stronger social services support for internet users: this policy option involves strengthening social services dedicated to internet users to prevent or mitigate harmful effects such as internet addition, antisocial online behaviour or information overload;
• incentivising or requiring employers to develop policies that protect workers against harmful effects of work-related internet use, such as information overload and the blurring of lines between public and private life;
• establishing governmental units and multi-stakeholder platforms at EU level,to address the problems of the internet’s harmful social and cultural effects.

Problematic use of the internet (PUI) research network

Finally, in relation to internet-caused damage, it is worth mentioning the recent article published by the European Science-Media Hub (ESMH) on the European Problematic Use of Internet (PUI) research network. The project, funded by the European Commission, gathers over 120 psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists, with the objective of reaching a better definition of diagnostic criteria, the role of genetics and personality traits, and the brain-based mechanisms behind internet related disorders.

Scientific Foresight (STOA)

Taxing the super-rich – answering citizens’ concerns, how has parliament supported the green deal ambition to cut transport emissions, how has parliament kept human rights sanctions at the top of the eu agenda, how has parliament responded to the rise of artificial intelligence, arrest of captain paul watson in greenland – answering citizens’ concerns, identifying data gaps in the textile industry and assessing current initiatives to address them, the role of research and innovation in ensuring a safe and sustainable supply of critical raw materials in the eu , end the cage age – answering citizens’ concerns, european parliament constitutive session – july 2024, how does parliament support ukraine, how has parliament protected workers at risk of poverty, how has parliament ensured eu leadership is in the right hands.

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Trump Reposts Crude Sexual Remark About Harris on Truth Social

Though the former president has a history of making crass insults about opponents, the reposts signal his willingness to continue to shatter longstanding political norms.

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By Michael Gold

• Aug. 28, 2024

Former President Donald J. Trump used his social-media website on Wednesday to amplify a crude remark about Vice President Kamala Harris that suggested Ms. Harris traded sexual favors to help her political career.

The post, by another user on Truth Social, was an image of Ms. Harris and Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s opponent in 2016. The text read: “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently…”

The remark was a reference to Mrs. Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, and the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and a right-wing contention that Ms. Harris’s romantic relationship with Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco whom she dated in the mid-1990s while he was speaker of the California State Assembly, fueled her political rise.

Mr. Trump’s repost was the second time in 10 days that the former president shared content from his personal account making sexually oriented attacks on Ms. Harris. Though he has a history of making crass insults about his opponents, the reposts signal Mr. Trump’s willingness to continue to shatter longstanding norms of political speech.

The image Mr. Trump shared on Wednesday morning was another user’s screenshot of a post on X, and it was a reply to an unrelated video clip Mr. Trump had posted on Tuesday night.

Mr. Trump reposted the image as part of a series of 30 reposts he made on Truth Social between 8:02 and 8:32 a.m. on Wednesday, including several posts with references to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement and its slogan. Mr. Trump also reposted photos that called for the prosecution or imprisoning of top Democrats and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The former president has vowed to direct federal prosecutors to investigate his political enemies if elected.

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A message from the chancellor: Remembering Dr. Zijie Yan

In a campus email, Lee H. Roberts shared mental health resources and detailed Carolina’s plans to honor the memory of Dr. Yan as the one-year anniversary of the campus shooting approaches.

Dear Carolina Community,

This Wednesday, Aug. 28, marks one year since the tragic loss of Dr. Zijie Yan, who was killed in a shooting on our campus.

Dr. Yan was an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences and had been a member of our faculty since 2019. He was a respected colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus.

On Wednesday, the Bell Tower will chime with Hark the Sound at 1:15 p.m. in honor of Dr. Yan’s memory. Recognizing Dr. Yan’s legacy is an important way that we can come together as a community to acknowledge the loss we feel and to support one another.

We know that the anniversary of this event may be difficult for many, so I’d like to remind you of the resources that we have available.

For students, counseling sessions are available through Counseling and Psychological Services . For students who may need mental health services outside of business hours, please call the 24/7 Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) line: 919-966-3658.

For faculty and staff, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) support is available online at guidanceresources.com . Log on with a username and password or register with Web ID: TARHEELS. You may also call 877-314-5841 to make an appointment with a counselor. Support is free and confidential.

While I was not yet at Carolina when this event occurred, I have spoken with many about the direct impact this experience had on students, faculty, staff, parents and our local community. I’ve been grateful to learn about the ways our community came together during such a difficult and scary time.

Safety on campus is always the top priority, and we have learned a lot in the last year about improving our safety procedures . I appreciate the quick and focused action of Emergency Management and Planning and UNC Police to better our practices, and we will continue to find ways to make our security measures even more effective.

Moving forward after this kind of tragedy is not linear. Grief and sadness may surprise us, but I know this campus is full of support and kindness. This is our home, and — especially in tough times — we must continue to strengthen our Tar Heel family together.

Lee H. Roberts Chancellor

Counseling and Psychological Services team offers 24 options to help Tar Heels talk through specific issues.

University provides support for healing after trauma

Connect with mental health professionals and a community of care to help manage trauma’s lingering effects.

AI-enabled device revolutionizes pregnancy care

Handheld ultrasound allows novices to expertly estimate gestational age, a UNC School of Medicine study shows.

Five research teams receive Creativity Hubs grants

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research awards will fund projects to improve health care and clean energy.

Wi-Fi 6E comes to campus

Information Technology Services reengineers campus networks for better internet with biggest upgrade in two decades.

University updates Alert Carolina messaging

With the changes, campus will get clearer information more frequently during an emergency.

Ackland offers glasses for colorblind visitors

The art museum is the first in the state to provide a tool to help them see more hues.

Carolina remembers Zijie Yan, ‘master of light and matter’

Colleagues from the applied physical sciences department reflect on Yan’s legacy a year after his death.

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• Home Internet

Have Questions About Fiber Internet? Here’s Everything I Learned About Fiber Internet After Writing About It Daily

You’ve heard about cable and 5G, but what is fiber internet and is it worth the money?

Fiber internet uses the speed of light to get you online, making it the fastest internet connection your money can buy by far.

What does that mean for affordability or accessibility?

When I first started writing about the internet my eyes glazed over trying to understand the difference between cable internet and fiber internet (and also what are Wi-Fi , Ethernet and 5G ?).

Locating local internet providers

It didn’t take long for me to catch on to the buzz around fiber, not just in broadband news, but also among internet providers and even my neighbors. Everyone wants the fastest (and most cost-efficient) internet connection. I quickly discovered that fiber speeds leave  cable , 5G fixed wireless , satellite internet and the middling speeds of DSL in the dust.

Fiber is one of the most popular internet service connections among customers nationwide. If people who buy fiber are happy with the internet service why don’t we just recommend fiber-optic internet to everyone? Why bother with other internet connection types? 

The answer is simple: Fast speeds and customer satisfaction alone don’t automatically make fiber the best option for every household. Prices, availability, fees and other details impact how efficient fiber may be for your broadband needs and budget. Plus, most households don’t exceed an average of 600 megabits per second in download speeds, according to the latest data from OpenVault , so you may not need the 1,000Mbps or 5,000Mbps speeds offered by some fiber providers.

Fiber internet is still pretty marvelous. Since a fiber-optic internet connection relies on the speed of light to transmit data, we're still getting acquainted with all the possibilities of the technology. Still, it has already had a tremendous impact on the way we communicate and use the internet. 

It's an internet connection that you'll find CNET recommending again and again, provided it's available to you. If you're like me and have questions about what fiber broadband is and how it even works, let's get in the weeds about how fiber internet functions as the fastest internet connection and whether it's a worthwhile investment.

What is fiber internet exactly?

Fiber internet gets its name from the fiber cables it relies on to get you online. The cables are made up of thin, long strands of glass or plastic encased in layers of cladding and coating that transmit data through light signals across long distances.

Technically, the speed of light used to transmit this data is reduced by 30% because of the refraction that occurs within the cables, but the speeds are still very fast. All that may seem baffling, and it was to me too, but fiber cables have long been used to get us online.

You’re reading this right now because of the lightning-fast fiber cables under the ocean , powering your internet connection -- whether it’s fiber or not.

What does all that mean for you? That means you get symmetrical download and upload speeds on any speed tier, even up to a 50-gigabit (or 50,000Mbps) plan. Compared to the upload speeds of most cable internet providers, which usually range between 20 to 50Mbps, that’s a vast improvement. 

You should also know that fiber cables are very expensive, as is the installation process for a fiber network . That means it may be difficult for some providers to extend a fiber network to your neighborhood, especially if you’re in a rural area or just outside a big city. 

Because fiber internet requires an existing infrastructure or fiber network to work, the speeds you get depend on which fiber internet provider has already been active in your area. Occasionally, fiber providers will share each other's networks to mitigate costs. 

There are a few different ways an internet provider will connect a fiber network to your home, depending on the existing infrastructure. Note that the only true fiber internet connection is a direct one or Fiber to the Home connection.

• Fiber to the Home : Fiber-optic cables run directly from the network to your house. This is the fastest option.
• Fiber to the Curb :  If your household can’t be wired for fiber directly, the fiber cables connect with a coaxial cable from a utility pole or cabinet, which will inevitably slow the connection down but is still plenty fast.
• Fiber to the Neighborhood : This fiber internet connection, also known as Fiber to the Node, runs from a connection hub or node utility pole. Your house is then connected to the network through coaxial cables, meaning it travels the furthest of the three options and is the slowest connection type of the three.

Despite what direct fiber connection may be available to you, fiber internet is installed using a small utility box or an optical network terminal that a technician installs either inside or outside your home. The ONT is wired to the fiber network and converts light signals into electric signals, giving you the fastest internet connection on the block.

Is fiber internet the best internet connection?

There’s plenty to consider before calling fiber “the best” internet connection type. Fiber is definitely the fastest, but it’s also the most limited internet connection type in terms of availability. 

According to the Federal Communications Commission , less than half of the population is wired for a fiber internet connection. Compared to cable availability, which covers 82% of the population, fiber providers have some catching up to do.

The costs of fiber internet also determine whether it's a good option for your home. There's no doubt that fiber internet has higher starting prices than cable, with many starting prices averaging around $50 per month. There are a few cheap fiber internet providers, like Frontier Fiber and Ziply Fiber, which start at $30 for 200Mbps and $20 for 100Mbps a month, respectively. 

If you look at the cost per Mbps , fiber is often the most cost-efficient internet connection type, and prices don’t typically increase year after year as they do for some cable providers. For example, Spectrum and AT&T Fiber both offer 1,000Mbps for $80 a month or 8 cents per Mbps. Spectrum will increase that price to around $110 monthly in a year or two. AT&T Fiber won’t. Also note that AT&T Fiber offers 1,000Mbps upload speeds, lower latency and more overall reliability than Spectrum’s 35Mbps upload speed for that tier.

Even for Google Fiber , one of the more expensive fiber providers, which starts at $70 a month for 1,000Mbps and only goes up from there, the cost per Mbps reveals you’re getting pretty good value for the offered speeds. Paying $125 a month for 5,000Mbps may seem like a lot, but that price comes down to around 3 cents per Mbps. 

Again, consider first how much internet speed you actually need , so you make the best use of your dollar. Not all of us require 5,000Mbps, but for those who work at home, are avid gamers and have multiple busy internet users in the house, a multi-gig internet connection may be the way to go. 

Lastly, fiber internet has the best customer service track record when compared to other internet service types. The American Customer Satisfaction Index points to positive trends for fiber internet providers in the past few years. AT&T Fiber scored at the top of the ACSI’s 2024 satisfaction benchmark with a score of 80, while the lowest score came from Optimum Fiber at 66. For context, the scores for non-fiber internet providers (DSL, fixed wireless and cable) ranged from a low of 56 to a high of 76, held by T-Mobile Home Internet . 

Data from J.D. Power , another customer satisfaction surveyor, notes that customers were happier with wireless internet overall during 2023, although they may not have separated the fixed wireless offerings from the fiber offerings from one provider. For example, Verizon offers 5G home internet as well as fiber through Verizon Fios, although there are no separate categories in the data. Either way, AT&T, Frontier Fiber, Verizon and Google Fiber scored at the top of all regional surveys.

What internet providers offer fiber?

There are upwards of 1,400 fiber internet providers in the country, according to the latest report from the FCC . Most of those providers are local. Only around seven providers serve more than 1% to 2% of the population, with Verizon Fios and AT&T Fiber covering the most ground with 9% and 12% coverage, respectively.

• AT&T Fiber
• Brightspeed
• Frontier Fiber
• Google Fiber
• Kinetic by Windstream
• Point Broadband
• Quantum Fiber
• Verizon Fios
• Ziply Fiber

Bottom line: Is fiber internet worth it?

The answer to this question will depend on several factors, but perhaps most important is whether fiber is available in your area. If you can get fiber, it’s absolutely worth it. You may not need multi-gigabit tiers for over $100 a month, but even the lower tiers of 300Mbps download/300Mbps upload outpace the speeds offered by cable, fixed wireless providers and especially DSL. Fiber usually features unlimited data as well as no contracts or monthly equipment fees (although this varies by provider). Fiber internet isn’t the only solution to our broadband needs. Working out the expansion of fiber networks and improving the affordability of multi-gig tiers are some of the biggest priorities, but while we wait for those improvements, you’d be hard-pressed to find an internet connection that’s as lightning-fast as the speeds you get from fiber.

What is fiber internet FAQs

How fast is fiber internet.

The fastest known residential internet connection (at the moment) is Ziply Fiber’s 50,000Mbps tier , which raises the bar for all internet providers. Some fiber providers, like Google Fiber, start at 1,000Mbps and max out around 8,000Mbps or 10,000Mbps. Others have lower starting speeds, like Frontier Fiber or Verizon Fios, which start at 200Mbps and 300Mbps, respectively.

Is fiber internet expensive?

It definitely can be, depending on your internet provider and how fast you want your internet to be. Some of the cheapest fiber providers have plans starting at $20 a month for 100Mbps (Ziply Fiber) or $30 a month for 200Mbps (Frontier Fiber), but most starting prices average around $50.

What’s the difference between fiber internet and “fiber-rich” internet?

Cable providers often use the term "fiber-rich" to describe their services, but that doesn't mean you'll get true fiber internet. It usually means fiber-optic cables are somewhere along the network but not fiber to your home. You can usually tell if an internet provider offers true fiber service by the download and upload speeds. If they're symmetrical, it should be fiber.

Where can I get fiber internet?

If you live in or near a big city, your chances of getting fiber internet are much higher. You can plug your address into the availability checkers on most provider websites or use data from the FCC to determine if your address is eligible for fiber.

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What Are the Benefits of the Internet? Argumentative Essay

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• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

The Internet has been one of the biggest inventions that have made a great difference in the lives of many people in the world. Its introduction has come with an assortment of benefits which in one way or another has made life to be so easy. Many people say that the Internet has reduced the world into easily accessible global village since it helps people to access information from every part of the world with just some simple clicks on the keyboards and keypads of computers and related gadgets.

Internet use allows people who are interested and have the knowledge about it access a lot of information which range from different subjects hence it is able to meet the needs of diversified population that use the Internet. In this light, the invention of the Internet has been accompanied by many benefits that has turned the world into a global village, thus people can easily access any information at the click of a button.

To begin with, the Internet has come up with ways that enable man to undertake many tasks that were in the past deemed as cumbersome since it has almost every material that is needed to tackle all sorts of problems in various fields of life. For instance, scholars and research organizations had difficult time perusing through piles of books to do their research work. These have been made so easy with the introduction of the Internet since it has all the relevant materials that are needed to carry any kind of research work.

Likewise, in the past years, people suffered greatly due to congestion that occurred in processing transactions in the banking halls. Queuing was the only way through which people received banking services. With the invention of the Internet banking was made so easy due to the fact most of the operations of the financial institutions have been made accessible through the Internet, therefore making it possible for people to conduct all their bank transactions without any difficulty.

Through the Internet people can be able to transfer money electronically, check their bank account balances and withdraw and deposit money via the Internet; this is also referred to as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). This has also been accessible unlimitedly since the Internet is operational all the time.

Another important aspect is that the Internet has made it easy for people to do business via telecommunication media, thus having an opportunity to explore the international market.

This was a hard nut to crack before the introduction of the Internet because someone wishing to purchase goods in international markets had to use traditional means of communication such as television, phones, and newspaper. But with the coming of the Internet this has become very simple. People nowadays can easily buy goods online and at the same companies can display their commodities on the Internet. All transactions are made online hence making international trade very convenient.

Consequently, online trading has also led to great revolution in the innovativeness due to the fact that companies are able to share ideas with others which trigger them to become dynamic in the way they perform their business operations so as to be able to meet the demands of the international market. Advertisement of goods is also very easy since companies need to launch their websites where they post their commodities and prices.

This was very difficult in the past since advertisement was only limited to television, radio and print media which are relatively expensive and do not advertise the products of each company that has subscribed with them throughout. But the Internet is at all times advertising all the commodities that have been posted on it.

More importantly, the Internet has acted as a channel through which people access employment opportunities since most employers advertise jobs through agents that are online. At the same the invention of the Internet has created many job opportunities that are associated with its existence. For instance, jobs such as creation of web pages and programs have come up due to the Internet.

Internet has also led to the establishment of businesses that deal with Internet such as cyber cafés, online research agencies, search engines such as Google and social networks that are private businesses. In addition to these, individuals have also started Internet service providing firms where people subscribe at a fee to get connected to the Internet. All these cases give a clear implication of the Internet as far as availability of employment is concerned.

In the education field, the Internet has made scholarly work to be so easy since it provides all the materials that student require in doing their research and answering assignments given to them. Learners can also use the Internet to undertake their normal studies since it contains all the academic resources that are needed.

Research work has also been streamlined by the invention of the Internet since researchers from different institutes around the world can share ideas and facts. The Internet has also made learning so easy due to the fact that tutors in learning institutes can send and receive learning materials to or from their students. People can also undertake online courses which they can pursue at the comfort of their homes or offices.

Furthermore, people get entertained in various ways by the ever increasing number of entertainment sites. There are sites that are purposely created to offer recreation to Internet users such as youtube.com which is used by entertainers or even ordinary people to post music, movies or funny comedies and events which are then accessed by people, hence entertaining them.

There are also social networks that are developed in the Internet which are used by people to interact by communicating, sharing photos and finding friends all over the world. Such sites include Facebook and Twitter.

Therefore, from the above benefits, it can be articulated that the invention of the Internet has really changed the lives of many people. Internet has also altered the mode in which various activities are done. It has also led to the development of so many other things related to the technology and at the same time things that seem to be inaccessible to easily reached. In essence, this invention has really affected people’s lives positively.

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• Chicago (A-D)
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IvyPanda. (2018, September 4). What Are the Benefits of the Internet? https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-internet/

"What Are the Benefits of the Internet?" IvyPanda , 4 Sept. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/the-internet/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'What Are the Benefits of the Internet'. 4 September.

IvyPanda . 2018. "What Are the Benefits of the Internet?" September 4, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-internet/.

1. IvyPanda . "What Are the Benefits of the Internet?" September 4, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-internet/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "What Are the Benefits of the Internet?" September 4, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-internet/.

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Key things to know about U.S. election polling in 2024

Confidence in U.S. public opinion polling was shaken by errors in 2016 and 2020. In both years’ general elections, many polls underestimated the strength of Republican candidates, including Donald Trump. These errors laid bare some real limitations of polling.

In the midterms that followed those elections, polling performed better . But many Americans remain skeptical that it can paint an accurate portrait of the public’s political preferences.

Restoring people’s confidence in polling is an important goal, because robust and independent public polling has a critical role to play in a democratic society. It gathers and publishes information about the well-being of the public and about citizens’ views on major issues. And it provides an important counterweight to people in power, or those seeking power, when they make claims about “what the people want.”

The challenges facing polling are undeniable. In addition to the longstanding issues of rising nonresponse and cost, summer 2024 brought extraordinary events that transformed the presidential race . The good news is that people with deep knowledge of polling are working hard to fix the problems exposed in 2016 and 2020, experimenting with more data sources and interview approaches than ever before. Still, polls are more useful to the public if people have realistic expectations about what surveys can do well – and what they cannot.

With that in mind, here are some key points to know about polling heading into this year’s presidential election.

Probability sampling (or “random sampling”). This refers to a polling method in which survey participants are recruited using random sampling from a database or list that includes nearly everyone in the population. The pollster selects the sample. The survey is not open for anyone who wants to sign up.

Online opt-in polling (or “nonprobability sampling”). These polls are recruited using a variety of methods that are sometimes referred to as “convenience sampling.” Respondents come from a variety of online sources such as ads on social media or search engines, websites offering rewards in exchange for survey participation, or self-enrollment. Unlike surveys with probability samples, people can volunteer to participate in opt-in surveys.

Nonresponse and nonresponse bias. Nonresponse is when someone sampled for a survey does not participate. Nonresponse bias occurs when the pattern of nonresponse leads to error in a poll estimate. For example, college graduates are more likely than those without a degree to participate in surveys, leading to the potential that the share of college graduates in the resulting sample will be too high.

Mode of interview. This refers to the format in which respondents are presented with and respond to survey questions. The most common modes are online, live telephone, text message and paper. Some polls use more than one mode.

Weighting. This is a statistical procedure pollsters perform to make their survey align with the broader population on key characteristics like age, race, etc. For example, if a survey has too many college graduates compared with their share in the population, people without a college degree are “weighted up” to match the proper share.

How are election polls being conducted?

Pollsters are making changes in response to the problems in previous elections. As a result, polling is different today than in 2016. Most U.S. polling organizations that conducted and publicly released national surveys in both 2016 and 2022 (61%) used methods in 2022 that differed from what they used in 2016 . And change has continued since 2022.

One change is that the number of active polling organizations has grown significantly, indicating that there are fewer barriers to entry into the polling field. The number of organizations that conduct national election polls more than doubled between 2000 and 2022.

This growth has been driven largely by pollsters using inexpensive opt-in sampling methods. But previous Pew Research Center analyses have demonstrated how surveys that use nonprobability sampling may have errors twice as large , on average, as those that use probability sampling.

The second change is that many of the more prominent polling organizations that use probability sampling – including Pew Research Center – have shifted from conducting polls primarily by telephone to using online methods, or some combination of online, mail and telephone. The result is that polling methodologies are far more diverse now than in the past.

(For more about how public opinion polling works, including a chapter on election polls, read our short online course on public opinion polling basics .)

All good polling relies on statistical adjustment called “weighting,” which makes sure that the survey sample aligns with the broader population on key characteristics. Historically, public opinion researchers have adjusted their data using a core set of demographic variables to correct imbalances between the survey sample and the population.

But there is a growing realization among survey researchers that weighting a poll on just a few variables like age, race and gender is insufficient for getting accurate results. Some groups of people – such as older adults and college graduates – are more likely to take surveys, which can lead to errors that are too sizable for a simple three- or four-variable adjustment to work well. Adjusting on more variables produces more accurate results, according to Center studies in 2016 and 2018 .

A number of pollsters have taken this lesson to heart. For example, recent high-quality polls by Gallup and The New York Times/Siena College adjusted on eight and 12 variables, respectively. Our own polls typically adjust on 12 variables . In a perfect world, it wouldn’t be necessary to have that much intervention by the pollster. But the real world of survey research is not perfect.

Predicting who will vote is critical – and difficult. Preelection polls face one crucial challenge that routine opinion polls do not: determining who of the people surveyed will actually cast a ballot.

Roughly a third of eligible Americans do not vote in presidential elections , despite the enormous attention paid to these contests. Determining who will abstain is difficult because people can’t perfectly predict their future behavior – and because many people feel social pressure to say they’ll vote even if it’s unlikely.

No one knows the profile of voters ahead of Election Day. We can’t know for sure whether young people will turn out in greater numbers than usual, or whether key racial or ethnic groups will do so. This means pollsters are left to make educated guesses about turnout, often using a mix of historical data and current measures of voting enthusiasm. This is very different from routine opinion polls, which mostly do not ask about people’s future intentions.

When major news breaks, a poll’s timing can matter. Public opinion on most issues is remarkably stable, so you don’t necessarily need a recent poll about an issue to get a sense of what people think about it. But dramatic events can and do change public opinion , especially when people are first learning about a new topic. For example, polls this summer saw notable changes in voter attitudes following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. Polls taken immediately after a major event may pick up a shift in public opinion, but those shifts are sometimes short-lived. Polls fielded weeks or months later are what allow us to see whether an event has had a long-term impact on the public’s psyche.

How accurate are polls?

The answer to this question depends on what you want polls to do. Polls are used for all kinds of purposes in addition to showing who’s ahead and who’s behind in a campaign. Fair or not, however, the accuracy of election polling is usually judged by how closely the polls matched the outcome of the election.

By this standard, polling in 2016 and 2020 performed poorly. In both years, state polling was characterized by serious errors. National polling did reasonably well in 2016 but faltered in 2020.

In 2020, a post-election review of polling by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) found that “the 2020 polls featured polling error of an unusual magnitude: It was the highest in 40 years for the national popular vote and the highest in at least 20 years for state-level estimates of the vote in presidential, senatorial, and gubernatorial contests.”

How big were the errors? Polls conducted in the last two weeks before the election suggested that Biden’s margin over Trump was nearly twice as large as it ended up being in the final national vote tally.

Errors of this size make it difficult to be confident about who is leading if the election is closely contested, as many U.S. elections are .

Pollsters are rightly working to improve the accuracy of their polls. But even an error of 4 or 5 percentage points isn’t too concerning if the purpose of the poll is to describe whether the public has favorable or unfavorable opinions about candidates , or to show which issues matter to which voters. And on questions that gauge where people stand on issues, we usually want to know broadly where the public stands. We don’t necessarily need to know the precise share of Americans who say, for example, that climate change is mostly caused by human activity. Even judged by its performance in recent elections, polling can still provide a faithful picture of public sentiment on the important issues of the day.

The 2022 midterms saw generally accurate polling, despite a wave of partisan polls predicting a broad Republican victory. In fact, FiveThirtyEight found that “polls were more accurate in 2022 than in any cycle since at least 1998, with almost no bias toward either party.” Moreover, a handful of contrarian polls that predicted a 2022 “red wave” largely washed out when the votes were tallied. In sum, if we focus on polling in the most recent national election, there’s plenty of reason to be encouraged.

Compared with other elections in the past 20 years, polls have been less accurate when Donald Trump is on the ballot. Preelection surveys suffered from large errors – especially at the state level – in 2016 and 2020, when Trump was standing for election. But they performed reasonably well in the 2018 and 2022 midterms, when he was not.

During the 2016 campaign, observers speculated about the possibility that Trump supporters might be less willing to express their support to a pollster – a phenomenon sometimes described as the “shy Trump effect.” But a committee of polling experts evaluated five different tests of the “shy Trump” theory and turned up little to no evidence for each one . Later, Pew Research Center and, in a separate test, a researcher from Yale also found little to no evidence in support of the claim.

Instead, two other explanations are more likely. One is about the difficulty of estimating who will turn out to vote. Research has found that Trump is popular among people who tend to sit out midterms but turn out for him in presidential election years. Since pollsters often use past turnout to predict who will vote, it can be difficult to anticipate when irregular voters will actually show up.

The other explanation is that Republicans in the Trump era have become a little less likely than Democrats to participate in polls . Pollsters call this “partisan nonresponse bias.” Surprisingly, polls historically have not shown any particular pattern of favoring one side or the other. The errors that favored Democratic candidates in the past eight years may be a result of the growth of political polarization, along with declining trust among conservatives in news organizations and other institutions that conduct polls.

Whatever the cause, the fact that Trump is again the nominee of the Republican Party means that pollsters must be especially careful to make sure all segments of the population are properly represented in surveys.

The real margin of error is often about double the one reported. A typical election poll sample of about 1,000 people has a margin of sampling error that’s about plus or minus 3 percentage points. That number expresses the uncertainty that results from taking a sample of the population rather than interviewing everyone . Random samples are likely to differ a little from the population just by chance, in the same way that the quality of your hand in a card game varies from one deal to the next.

The problem is that sampling error is not the only kind of error that affects a poll. Those other kinds of error, in fact, can be as large or larger than sampling error. Consequently, the reported margin of error can lead people to think that polls are more accurate than they really are.

There are three other, equally important sources of error in polling: noncoverage error , where not all the target population has a chance of being sampled; nonresponse error, where certain groups of people may be less likely to participate; and measurement error, where people may not properly understand the questions or misreport their opinions. Not only does the margin of error fail to account for those other sources of potential error, putting a number only on sampling error implies to the public that other kinds of error do not exist.

Several recent studies show that the average total error in a poll estimate may be closer to twice as large as that implied by a typical margin of sampling error. This hidden error underscores the fact that polls may not be precise enough to call the winner in a close election.

Other important things to remember

Transparency in how a poll was conducted is associated with better accuracy . The polling industry has several platforms and initiatives aimed at promoting transparency in survey methodology. These include AAPOR’s transparency initiative and the Roper Center archive . Polling organizations that participate in these organizations have less error, on average, than those that don’t participate, an analysis by FiveThirtyEight found .

Participation in these transparency efforts does not guarantee that a poll is rigorous, but it is undoubtedly a positive signal. Transparency in polling means disclosing essential information, including the poll’s sponsor, the data collection firm, where and how participants were selected, modes of interview, field dates, sample size, question wording, and weighting procedures.

There is evidence that when the public is told that a candidate is extremely likely to win, some people may be less likely to vote . Following the 2016 election, many people wondered whether the pervasive forecasts that seemed to all but guarantee a Hillary Clinton victory – two modelers put her chances at 99% – led some would-be voters to conclude that the race was effectively over and that their vote would not make a difference. There is scientific research to back up that claim: A team of researchers found experimental evidence that when people have high confidence that one candidate will win, they are less likely to vote. This helps explain why some polling analysts say elections should be covered using traditional polling estimates and margins of error rather than speculative win probabilities (also known as “probabilistic forecasts”).

National polls tell us what the entire public thinks about the presidential candidates, but the outcome of the election is determined state by state in the Electoral College . The 2000 and 2016 presidential elections demonstrated a difficult truth: The candidate with the largest share of support among all voters in the United States sometimes loses the election. In those two elections, the national popular vote winners (Al Gore and Hillary Clinton) lost the election in the Electoral College (to George W. Bush and Donald Trump). In recent years, analysts have shown that Republican candidates do somewhat better in the Electoral College than in the popular vote because every state gets three electoral votes regardless of population – and many less-populated states are rural and more Republican.

For some, this raises the question: What is the use of national polls if they don’t tell us who is likely to win the presidency? In fact, national polls try to gauge the opinions of all Americans, regardless of whether they live in a battleground state like Pennsylvania, a reliably red state like Idaho or a reliably blue state like Rhode Island. In short, national polls tell us what the entire citizenry is thinking. Polls that focus only on the competitive states run the risk of giving too little attention to the needs and views of the vast majority of Americans who live in uncompetitive states – about 80%.

Fortunately, this is not how most pollsters view the world . As the noted political scientist Sidney Verba explained, “Surveys produce just what democracy is supposed to produce – equal representation of all citizens.”

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Scott Keeter is a senior survey advisor at Pew Research Center .

Courtney Kennedy is Vice President of Methods and Innovation at Pew Research Center .

How do people in the U.S. take Pew Research Center surveys, anyway?

How public polling has changed in the 21st century, what 2020’s election poll errors tell us about the accuracy of issue polling, a field guide to polling: election 2020 edition, methods 101: how is polling done around the world, most popular.

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