History of Internet and Its Impact
The Internet grew from a small research idea and into the backbone of our daily life. Many
people consider the internet as the World Wide Web. They think that they are basically the same. But this is not the case. The Internet is the physical network of computers that links
everything. Whereas the Web is only one service that runs on that network.
This global system first started as a military project. Then it expanded step by step until it
touched almost every part of modern life today.
Early Foundations (1960s–1970s)
During this decade, computer scientists looked into the sharing of computing resources over long distances. Research support was provided by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Paul Baran and Donald Davies pioneered the
development of packet switching which involved breaking information into smaller pieces for faster transmission.
On October 29, 1969, the first message was sent over ARPANET between two computers
located at UCLA and Stanford. The network was later expanded to include additional
universities and by 1971, there were 15 sites capable of communicating with one another. The system advanced slowly but at a steady pace.
ARPA later merged into the Internet and the World Wide Web. The two systems provided a
major breakthrough in the world of computing .The 1974 paper by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn
mentioned the word “internet” which was a short form for “internetworking. That word and also the design behind it had set the stage for everything that followed.
Expansion (1980s)
The 1980s saw the Internet finally begin to take shape. In 1982, the TCP/IP protocol suite
became the standard. This is still the basic language that computers use to talk online today.
The National Science Foundation built NSFNET to connect academic centers at that time. But the speed during those times was very slow as compared to today’s standards.
But progress happened very fast. By 1989, the Internet had reached across oceans.
Universities and research centers in Europe, Japan, and Australia joined the global network. Commercial Internet providers also began appearing during that time. Most people however still did not know what the Internet was.
Web Revolution (1990s)
Everything changed in 1990. Tim Berners-Lee, created HTTP, HTML, and the first web browser.
These technologies formed the World Wide Web. This is the system of linked pages we
navigate with browsers today. Suddenly the Internet became accessible to non-technical people too.
Business jumped in quickly. Commercial networks like PSInet were launched. In 1995, the NSF backbone shut down as private companies took over. Stanford Federal Credit Union became the first online bank in 1994. Amazon, eBay, and other online stores also opened their virtual
stores.
Broadband (2000s)
Faster connections through DSL, cable, and fiber optics changed everything again. Always-on
Internet became normal. Also Google has transformed how we find information. YouTube also brought videos to everyone. Social media companies like Facebook connected people in so
many new ways.
Traffic began to double roughly every 18 months as more services moved online. Cloud
computing has let companies run smoothly without buying expensive hardware. Internet cafés also popped up worldwide for those without home access.
Smartphones (2010s–2020s)
The greatest of great innovations occurred in the 2010s. Smartphones made the Internet
portable. The Western World registered the first cases of phone Internet usage in 2010, and by 2016, phone Internet usage surpassed desktop usage. Apps begin to replace websites for many tasks. Social media platforms were established in the 2010s, and the number of users increased
to billions.
Today, 4G and 5G networks bring fast Internet to places with no wired connections. Internet
usage increased to 67% in 2023 from 16% in 2005.