The Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet

The Internet is a wide network of computers that enables users to access information from anywhere across the world. It is a global service that is available to everyone and is easy to use as well. While it seems beneficial in all aspects, there are several advantages and disadvantages of internet.

In this article, we will discuss applications for information transfer and the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet. 

Table of Contents

• What is the Internet?
• Features of Internet
• Applications of Internet
• Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet
• What Will Happen If the Internet Stopped Working For 1 Hour?

What is the Internet?

The Internet is a technology that is considered to be a global system of interconnected computer networks. The Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) enables communication among devices and networks. One can connect with anyone worldwide and access any information through the internet. 

Whenever a user visits a website, the computer sends a request over physical cables such as fiber optic cables to a server. When the request arrives, the server retrieves the website and sends back accurate data to the computer that requests it. The term World Wide Web and Internet are often used interchangeably. 

However, the World Wide Web (www) is an information system useful for accessing the Internet. With the internet, users can communicate instantly with anyone in the world. This includes video conferencing, internet calls, emails, chat rooms and social media. Agencies such as Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) establish universal protocols.

Features of Internet

The following are the features of the Internet:

• Provides access to information: The Internet is the biggest encyclopedia of information. It consists of a huge repository of information through websites, digital libraries, scientific papers and articles.
• Information exchange: It serves as a platform where information can be exchanged among people from any corner of the world.
• Helps in Networking: The Internet provides platforms where people can connect and network with other people. This helps in building networks and socialising.

Applications of Internet

The Internet has many applications, due to which it has become an unlimited resource of information. Following are the areas of usage:

1. World Wide Web: A global collection of documents, applications, and other resources interlinked through hyperlinks and referenced with URLs. The main access protocol of WWW is HTTP. Through HTTP, communication between software systems for information transfer, sharing, and exchanging business data is possible. Currently, Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 are the three versions of WWW. 
2. Connectivity: There are several ways of communicating through the internet with anyone worldwide. To connect with anyone worldwide, users can connect through email, social media, and video conferencing applications.  
3. Data transfer: One of the most important applications of the internet is data transfer. You can share unlimited data with anyone worldwide through the internet. File sharing is a way to share data across the internet. 

Transfer of Information on the Internet

On the internet, data travels across in the form of packets. The information contained within the wrapper informs the computer about the type of data within the packet. It also tells how it fits together with data the origin and destination of the data. Whenever you send a message, it breaks down into packets that travel across a network. As packets arrive, the computer receives the data and assembles these packets to recreate the message.

 If a packet does not reach the destination, the machine that receives the data can identify the missing packet by referencing other packets. It then sends a message to the machine that has sent the data to resent the missing packet.  Different packets from the same message do not follow the same path, due to which the Internet speed is very fast.

What are The Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet?

There are both advantages and disadvantages of Internet since it has unlimited information resources. Some of these resources have crucial information sensitive to the individual, public, and national interest. This abundance of information is both advantageous and disadvantageous. Let us first discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Internet:

Benefits of Internet

The following are the advantages of Internet:

1. Instant access to information: One of the biggest advantages of internet is instant access to information. It takes seconds to search for anything on the internet. You can type in the query using keywords, and the search engine will find you millions of searches as per the exact query and related keywords. You can further access information based on the time period, relevance and user rating. This makes you find more relevant and up-to-date information on the Internet.
2. Resources to learn: You can learn about anything anytime through the internet. This is another advantage of internet. There are many resources to help you gain knowledge. This includes research papers, online courses, videos, tutorials, FAQs, case studies, etc. There are many forums such as Reddit, Quora and many open-source communities that help you in learning.
3. Upgrading lifestyles: The Internet of Things is one of the best innovations through which human lives have become easier and more efficient. The effort in manual labour has been minimized due to the availability of technological innovations. These days, people do not have to put effort into switching on and off lights.
4. Effortless communication: One of the biggest advantages of internet is communication. Through this network of networks, you can communicate with anyone remotely. Wireless systems or physical presence are unnecessary to communicate with people. Within seconds, you can connect with someone sitting thousands of miles away. This ensures that you do not lose touch due to increased distance. 
5. Socializing: One of the most recent advantages of the internet has been identified as social networking sites. Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok have helped build communities. People having the same types of interests can connect with each other over these platforms. This is a new form of socializing through which people can share and express their opinions. 
6. Source of Earning: One of the biggest advantages of Internet is that it has created numerous job opportunities. Almost all job roles in the current times are entirely dependent on the availability of the internet. Whether you are a professional working in the field of digital marketing, e-commerce, SEO or social media marketing, web development or even cloud computing, your job exists because the internet exists.  

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Disadvantages of Internet

The Internet has proven to be an extraordinary invention that has changed our lives completely over decades. However, this technology does have the following drawbacks:

1. Cyber breach: One of the biggest disadvantages of the internet is the risk of cyber breaches. Websites, applications, emails and software, everything on the internet is prone to breaches. Cyber attackers can find a loophole in the system and breach it to extract the information. Due to this reason, information over the internet is vulnerable to theft.
2. Lack of socialization: While the internet is helping in building communities through social networking sites, it limits real-life socialization. Due to this, people are unable to forge human bonds as strongly as decades before.
3. Identity theft: Cyber criminals steal personal information and credentials to commit fraud. For identity theft, criminals access your information in an unauthorized and illegal manner. Once they steal your PII, they misuse it to commit crimes to obtain goods and services. In the worst-case scenario, they may even try to ruin your reputation. 
4. Addiction: This is one of the biggest disadvantages of the internet. Over the course of time, people have become addicted to using the internet. This is evident in teenagers who spend more time playing games or using social media on the internet. They value online lives more than the real life. This makes virtual reality more addictive. Due to this, many become aggressive or even clinically depressed when they do not have internet availability.
5. Shortened attention span: Due to the availability of excessive means of entertainment over the internet, the attention span of the average human brain has become less. People nowadays have an attention span of less than a minute, requiring changes within minutes.
6. Reality-fiction distinction blurs: In the coming times, a large number of people will be using VR devices. This technology will become extremely realistic in the future that will ultimately diminish the line between reality and fiction. This will have a huge psychological impact since people would start confusing fiction with reality. They will have difficulty adjusting to the real world. Once they start enjoying this fictional reality, social interaction will significantly reduce. With the constant use of VR technology, people will have an altered sense of time and space. Over the course of time, people will have issues with sensory adaptation.  
7. Spread of Misinformation: With heavy reliance on the internet, too much information is being catered online. There is a possibility that what you are consuming online is fake and clickbait since there is no single monitoring body to check whether the information on the internet is true or false.

Here is a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of Internet:

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What Will Happen If the Internet Stopped Working For 1 Hour?

While one hour doesn't seem to be too long, the impact of an internet outage for an hour would be huge. Everything from communication to defence services will be impacted because of no internet connectivity for an hour. Besides frustration, a lack of essential services can cause actual damage to humankind. Let us take a look at the probable issues that might arise during an internet outage for just an hour.

Conclusion

The Internet is the most unlimited source of information for everyone who can access it. Be it communicating with people sitting at another corner of the world or addressing thousands of people together, the internet has made it possible for all of us within seconds. However, many entities have ill intentions, due to which the misuse of the internet is as prevalent as its advantages.