By Nicholas Weist
The internet has become an important part of everyday life in our world. The internet controls banking, e-commerce, security systems, and much more. We have become immensely dependent upon the internet and it used to be a nice want in our world, but because the internet has grown so much in our world today it considered essential. It is hard to imagine what life would be like without the internet for many of us, as it existed before we were born and we grew up with it in our daily lives. It is because of this that it would be devastating if we had a global internet outage. You see everything that you store in the “cloud” is really just someone else’s computer and if the internet interlinking all of those computers went down, we would have chaos as we are even dependent on it in law enforcement and businesses. The internet has become essential for everyday life whether we like it or not and it is not going away anytime soon.
The internet used to be just a few local computers linked together to more easily share files and documents with those in the office in 1983. We use the internet today to maintain security for law enforcement and to complete those menial tasks. The internet has also become the largest encyclopedia on every topic known to man, as the internet has continuously expanded and grown as we learn new information and share that information with others. It is so integrated into our lives that we find it hard to imagine a world without, the internet but it didn’t use to be this way.
The internet used to be a “want” in its beginning years and most people were uninterested in it until it was heavily promoted by Microsoft and Apple as an “informational speedway” that could make our lives easier and more efficient. Since then it has continued to grow and become so advanced that the internet can learn some things on its own. It has also become the main way of communication as even cell phones use the internet to communicate with others. The internet has also become a way to protect information and buildings through various security measures. It is because of these things that if we had a global internet outage it would send the world spiraling into chaos.
If the internet went out on a global scale, it would change the world for the worse, as many law enforcement agencies depend on it to protect citizens and to capture criminals. The world governments would also be afraid because everyone is now vulnerable to attack, as the internet controls many remote weapons such as drones, nuclear and atomic weapons, missiles, rocket launchers, etc. It would also crash the world economy, as the world economy is mainly controlled through the internet and people wouldn’t be able to cash out their investments because that is done through the internet. However, the likelihood of this happening is quite low, and unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, our dependence on technology has grown substantially and it will continue to grow as we advance our society. It’s strange to think that the internet was only created 39 years ago and yet it continues to become more of a necessity today in our world. The internet is here to stay and whether we like it or not, it will continue to stay a vital part in our societies.
Nicholas Weist is a student at Fillmore Central High School. He is one of 14 area students participating in the Journal Writing Project, now in its 23rd year.
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