The Internet is 20
The Internet has become an integral part of our lives. When the
Internet is ‘down’ or not functioning our life almost comes to a
standstill. Being in a newspaper office makes the situation tougher.
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Tim Berners-Lee |
Transfering of pictures, articles attachments or simply checking
email with the challenge of deadlines staring at our face make it
impossible and drives us to the limit at times. Living without the
Internet is no easy task now a days. The power of the Internet is thus
obvious. It has made the world a global village.
The World Wide Web or Internet marked its 20th anniversary on March
13. The creation of the web by the British computer software genius Tim
Berners-Lee and other scientists at the European particle physics
laboratory CERN paved the way for an Internet explosion which has
changed lives of millions around the world.
The British software genius came up with the idea of the internet
exactly 20 years ago with the help of other scientists at CERN.
Berners-Lee set up the system to allow thousands of scientists around
the world to stay in touch.
On March 13, 1989, he handed his supervisor in Geneva a document
entitled ‘Information Management: a proposal’. The supervisor described
it as ‘vague, but exciting’ and later gave it the go ahead, according to
CERN. The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers,
enabling users to share information along multiple channels.
Typically, a computer that is connected to the Internet can access
information from a vast array of available servers and other computers
by moving information from them to the computer’s local memory.
The same connection allows that computer to send information to
servers on the network; that information is in turn accessed and
potentially modified by a variety of other interconnected computers. It
is a ‘network of networks’ that consists of millions of private and
public, academic, business and government networks of local to global
scope that are linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless
connections and other technologies.
The Internet was first made available for wider use on the Internet
from 1991. There are now more than 80 million websites worldwide and the
number is still growing.
Health effects associated with
Internet addiction
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There are now more than 80 million websites worldwide and the
number is still growing. |
Being addicted to Internet also can cause physical discomfort or
medical problems:
1.Carpal Tunnel syndrome (pain, numbness and burning in your hands
that can radiate up the wrists, elbows and shoulders)
2.Dry eyes
3.Backaches
4.Severe headaches
5.Eating irregularities, such as skipping meals
6.Failure to attend to personal hygiene
7.Sleep disturbances
Other addictions
Over half of Internet addicts suffer from other addictions, mainly to
drugs, alcohol, smoking and sex.
Mental Illness
Trends show that Internet addicts suffer from emotional problems such
as depression and anxiety-related disorders and often use the fantasy
world of the Internet to psychologically escape unpleasant feelings or
stressful situations.
Relationship troubles
In almost 75 percent of cases, Internet addicts use applications such
as chat rooms, instant messaging or online gaming as a safe way of
establishing new relationships and more confidently relating to others.
- Anjalie Garnier |
