The Internet, a global system of interconnected computer networks, has benefited to human life so extensively that it has positively changed human society in every sector. There are a number of businesses benefiting from the internet by having a greater geographical reach and a one stop shopping experience. The education sector is helped by online tutorials. The communication sector is aided by superfast speed of messaging, video, and text sharing resulting in faster information sharing and decision making. For general knowledge, the internet is a one–stop source. Furthermore, internet presence has accelerated the reach of business service offerings to customers.
The world’s Internet users have surpassed 3.5 billion or 43.6 percent of world population by now. This increase in number is supported by improvement in internet technology from slow dial–up to incredible speeds from pretty much anywhere. Customer trends are shaping the functionality; new devices are influencing designs which makes businesses come up with new services, models, and offerings based on the Internet. This demand is making the internet much more important:
1. Need for Permanent and Automatic Internet Connections – Presently, we are connecting to the internet in various way such as entering the Wi-Fi password for given location. Eventually, that connection needs to be constant, streamlined and overlap between systems; this will be required to provide redundancy and prevent worries of service outages or bad connections.
2. Importance in Augmented and Virtual Reality – Present devices such mobiles let us access the Internet through our screens, but the next-gen devices will project or embed it into the real world via Augmented and Virtual Reality (such as Google Glass). The Internet will play a major role as AR/VR overlays the computer generated information, images, and videos on a user’s smartphone or Tablet in real-time environments. There will be need of huge bandwidth; according to estimates, retina immersive experience requires bandwidth in the range from hundreds of megabits per second through several gigabits (Compared to Netflix’s high definition streaming service which only requires 5 Megabits per second). Internet technology needs to accommodate this bandwidth.
3. Importance in Machines Learning – Already machines are capable of doing many manual task. Cloud computing and rich data sets can train the Machine Learning clusters to gain mastery of higher level or intelligent tasks, which will help in better managing the workload.
4. Importance in IoT (Internet of Things) – IoT connects various household appliances such as refrigerators and alarm clocks. In the not-so-distant future, that connection will extend to vehicles, wallets, health monitors, and perhaps even our paper currency. This requires the information to flow more freely over the internet and will help in our desire to connect everything we can to internet.
5. Importance Beyond the Earth – Various space agencies (such as SpaceX) are researching missions to colonize Mars, and they will need the internet for communication back home. Orbiting satellites around Mars will transmit Internet data back and forth, though it will take up to 24 minutes for the data to transmit back to Earth (one-way)
Sure, there will be twists and turns along the way, but the internet will evolve, as will the way we use it. Yes, there will be negative effects too, but these cons need to be dealt with according to symptoms.