The Age Of The Internet

How the world has changed so much since I was born, especially with the dawn of the internet. I can’t believe quite how much it has changed even in the last 10-15 years. The age of the internet it truly upon us! What does this mean though for our children and what may the future hold?

I Feel Ancient!

It’s funny to think of the everyday things we do now that are new but in the future will just be standard for our children. Or the things we used to do that no longer exist. Even writing this blog will no doubt be different in the future.

There are so many things that just don’t exist now. Video tapes for example. I remember recording things on long play to double the length of a video. That way I could get six hours of recording on a tape. Or the cassette tapes that in some devices you could only fast forward, or sometimes you’d have to rewind by sticking a pen in the holes and turning it!

Getting on to the internet when it was first launched was especially interesting, as well as staying on it. Do you remember when you had dial up? That screeching sound of it getting online and having to be hard wired in to the phone socket? No such thing as WiFi then! Then, when someone called your house you got kicked off the internet, or someone wanted to call out and they’d tell you to get off the computer? Then there was the loading time of a page…so slow!! Nothing like what we see today.

Mobile phones? They were hardly mobile to start with! I remember when they used to be like bricks! Plus of course, they were actually just used to make phone calls, or maybe text. Playing Snake on them too. Nothing so simple as that now, we can do virtually anything on them, including watching TV or controlling our actual TV!

The Internet Has Changed Life So Much!

Now the internet is so embedded within our way of life I doubt we could survive without it. In fact I’d go so far as to say the world would grind to a halt without it. The banking system would collapse overnight.

However, perhaps we should look on the more positive side of what the internet has brought us for a moment.

The internet has made the whole world more connected than ever before in the history of the human race. We can contact people all over the world instantly, video message anyone anywhere. Video calls to Australia from the UK, or to someone in space even! The opportunities that brings are incredible, for both leisure and work.

We can instantly, wherever we may be, use our phones to see live video of many places in the world on EarthCam for example. We can look at images on YouTube of the pyramids, Golden Gate Bridge, Sydney Opera House or the Great Wall of China. Our children can learn about the Romans in school and then when they get home we could watch a TV programme about them that we find on one of the many services available. The educational possibilities are incredible.

More Risks From The Internet Too

It’s undeniable that the internet has not only brought a world of possibilities but also many risks. Risks to adults and unfortunately to children. I don’t need to describe risks in detail but fraud is a frequent one, social media issues like bullying and things much worse.

It’s also (he says writing a blog) a world where privacy is so limited now, so reduced. Never before has so much of ourselves been out there in the world, available for so many people to look at. Even if your Facebook page is locked down as tight as can be there are still many friends who can see more than ever before of your life.

The World Of Tomorrow

Imagine for a moment that the internet had been invented 200 years ago. How different our world would be right now. The speed with which innovations have developed since we’ve had the internet and such fast ways of communicating, the speed computers can work at now, it’s incredible. This would all have meant that the whole world would feel much smaller and be so different from how it is now that I can’t even imagine.

When you think of the future you start to imagine things you see in Star Trek or Star Wars, or something similar. I fully expect the life of mobile phones in their current format is limited. The near future will likely be all about wearable technology, even smarter watches, glasses too. These are pretty much available. We will have devices that can project 3D so you can watch a film or TV programme right in front of you. Mobile phones will probably be an implant at some point, perhaps something in your wrist, or maybe attached to your head sooner than that.

Food will change too. I can imagine it being like in Star Trek where you push a button and suddenly your food appears. The same sort of thing with your medicines too. The healthcare system is developing so rapidly who knows what it’ll be like in ten years let alone 100!

Could we even transport our consciousness at some point? If we could create food by pushing a few buttons could we create a body in the same way? Could we then transfer our consciousness through the internet to this new body and as such be physically anywhere in the world? Or could we just be transported anywhere? Would this see the end of planes in the sky?

The Near Future

Its hard to even fully comprehend what the next ten to twenty years holds, let alone 70 or 80. How the world will be so different. It’s exciting, and I wish that I could travel in time to the future just to see what the world is like. How exciting that would be!

The internet has changed everything so much in only a relative few years. The potential this brings for the next generation is amazing, exciting and uncertain. I for one can’t wait to see what comes next!