The Internet or Web :: #1

In class we briefly discussed the fact the most people, even the intelligent and well-informed, are confused about the difference between the internet and the web. Most people associate the internet as simply the medium in which they view their favorite websites or check their email but in fact the internet is so much more. The internet is a massive networking of networks and computers globally in which all the computers can communicate with each other. The web is just one of the many ways in which information can be retrieved from the internet. Many of us believe that the internet has been a huge innovation that is greatly changing and shaping our lives however we don’t even begin to grasp the scope of it. We may think that we only spend a couple hours a day using the internet but most of the time we probably don’t even realize that we are using it. Many of us may connect to our work computer from home, talk to friends using VOIP services, send and receive emails from our phones, downloads using peer-to-peer software, programming DVR’s via cell phones, only to name a few. We live in an environment of technology and though we may only spend a couple of hours a day on the web, most people spend a good portion of their day using internet resources. If the internet were to have a malfunction or be offline the repercussions would be even more catastrophic than just temporarily loosing your ability to surf the web, the way of life as we know it would cease to exist.