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Essay on Importance of Internet: Samples for Students

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  • Updated on  
  • Nov 23, 2023

essay on importance of internet

Internet is not just a need or luxury, it has become a household necessity. It was used as a source of entertainment but now it is impossible to work in offices or study without the Internet. When the global pandemic locked everyone in their house, it became an important medium to connect, study and work. Students were able to study without the risk of catching COVID-19 because of the Internet. The importance of the internet is also a common topic in various entrance exams such as SAT , TOEFL , and UPSC . In this blog, you will learn how to write an essay on the importance of the Internet.

This Blog Includes:

Tips to write the perfect essay on internet, sample 1 of essay on the importance of the internet (100 words), sample essay 2 – importance of the internet (150 words), sample essay 3 on use of internet for student (300 words).

Also Read: LNAT Sample Essays

internet help us essay

Now the task of essay writing may not always be easy, hence candidates must always know a few tips to write the perfect essay. Mentioned below are a few tips for writing the correct essay:

  • Prepare a basic outline to make sure there is continuity and relevance and no break in the structure of the essay
  • Follow a given structure. Begin with an introduction then move on to the body which should be detailed and encapsulate the essence of the topic and finally the conclusion for readers to be able to comprehend the essay in a certain manner
  • Students can also try to include solutions in their conclusion to make the essay insightful and lucrative to read.

Also Read: UPSC Essay Topics

The last few years have witnessed heavy reliance on the Internet. This has been because of multiple advantages that it has to offer – for instance, reducing work stress and changing the face of communication most importantly. If we take the current scenario, we cannot ignore how important the Internet is in our everyday lives. It is now indeed a challenging task to visualize a world without the internet. One may define the internet as a large library composed of stuff like – records, pictures, websites, and pieces of information. Another sector in which the internet has an undeniably important role to play is the field of communication. Without access to the internet, the ability to share thoughts and ideas across the globe would have also been just a dream. 

Also Read: IELTS Essay Topics

With the significant progress in technology, the importance of the internet has only multiplied with time. The dependence on the internet has been because of multiple advantages that it has to offer – for instance, reducing work stress and changing the face of communication most importantly. By employing the correct usage of the internet, we can find various information about the world. The internet hosts Wikipedia, which is considered to be one of the largest best-composed reference books kept up by a vast community of volunteer scholars and editors from all over the world. Through the internet, one may get answers to all their curiosity.

In the education sector too, it plays a major role, especially taking into consideration the pandemic. The Internet during the pandemic provided an easy alternative to replace the traditional education system and offers additional resources for studying, students can take their classes in the comforts of their homes. Through the internet, they can also browse for classes – lectures at no extra cost. The presence of the Internet is slowly replacing the use of traditional newspapers. It offers various recreational advantages as well. It can be correctly said that the internet plays a great role in the enhancement of quality of life.

Also Read: TOEFL Sample Essays

One may correctly define the 21st century as the age of science and technology. However, this has been possible not only by the efforts of the current generation but also by the previous generation. The result of one such advancement in the field of science and technology is the Internet. What is the Internet? So the internet can be called a connected group of networks that enable electronic communication. It is considered to be the world’s largest communication connecting millions of users.

The dependence on the internet has been because of multiple advantages that it has to offer – for instance, reducing work stress and changing the face of communication most importantly. Given the current scenario, the Internet has become a massive part of our daily lives, and it is now a challenging task to imagine the world without the Internet. The importance of the Internet in the field of communication definitely cannot be ignored.

Without access to the internet, the ability to share thoughts and ideas across the globe would have been just a dream. Today we can talk to people all over the globe only because of services like email, messenger, etc that are heavily reliant on the internet. Without the internet, it would be hard to imagine how large the world would be. The advent of the internet has made the task of building global friendships very easy.

The youth is mainly attracted by entertainment services. Streaming platforms like Amazon , Netflix, and YouTube have also gained immense popularity among internet users over the past few years. The presence of the Internet is slowly replacing the use of traditional newspapers among people too. 

In addition to these, it has various recreational advantages to offer as well. For instance, people can search for fun videos to watch and play games online with friends and other people all over the globe. Hence, we can say the internet holds immense importance in today’s era. Internet technology has indeed changed the dynamics of how we communicate, respond or entertain ourselves. Its importance in everyday life is never-ending. It can be correctly said that the internet plays a great role in the enhancement of quality of life. In the future too, we will see further changes in technology .

Also Read: SAT to Drop Optional Essays and Subject Tests from the Exam

Related Articles

The internet provides us with facts and data, as well as information and knowledge, to aid in our personal, social, and economic development. The internet has various applications; nevertheless, how we utilize it in our daily lives is determined by our particular needs and ambitions.

Here are five uses of the internet: email; sharing of files; watching movies and listening to songs; research purposes; and education.

The Internet has also altered our interactions with our families, friends, and life partners. Everyone is now connected to everyone else in a more simplified, accessible, and immediate manner; we can conduct part of our personal relationships using our laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

This was all about an essay on importance of Internet. The skill of writing an essay comes in handy when appearing for standardized language tests. Thinking of taking one soon? Leverage Live provides the best online test prep for the same. Register today to know more!

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Nikita Puri

Nikita is a creative writer and editor, who is always ready to learn new skills. She has great knowledge about study abroad universities, researching and writing blogs about them. Being a perfectionist, she has a habit of keeping her tasks complete on time before the OCD hits her. When Nikita is not busy working, you can find her eating while binge-watching The office. Also, she breathes music. She has done her bachelor's from Delhi University and her master's from Jamia Millia Islamia.

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Internet Improves Lives| Benefits of the internet

14 Ways the Internet Improves Our Lives

  • March 1, 2022
  • Advocacy , General

The internet is a near ubiquitous aspect of modern life — making it easy to take for granted all the skills, tools, opportunities, and benefits that it provides. In celebration of CTN’s 14 years of digital inclusion work, we’ve compiled 14 ways that internet access and digital skills can improve someone’s quality of life and h ow the internet helps us in our daily life.

14 Benefits of the Internet and How the Internet Has Made Society Better:

Providing better access to health information and options., making it easier to communicate with friends and family..

the Internet has made it easier to communicate with friends and family

Offering a wealth of online activities and experiences to enjoy remotely.

Promoting workforce development skills., increasing access to social services and benefits., decreasing isolation and loneliness., empowering people with a sense of agency., improving education and learning opportunities..

the Internet has improved education and learning opportunities

Participating in democracy and civic duties.

Searching and applying for jobs., maintaining curiosity, finding new interests, and pursuing hobbies., improving the economy for everyone., strengthening communities and social ties., creating a better world..

the internet has made the world a better place

While the benefits of the internet and technology are clear, accessing them is still a challenge for millions of Americans. This means we must work to build an equitable and inclusive internet that improves the lives of all people — regardless of their age, income level, or primary language. Want to help us expand digital equity and inclusion? Check out our volunteer and partner opportunities to get involved!

Related Posts

  • Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Visits CTN and Hamilton Families May 12, 2022
  • Older Americans Month: Seniors’ Lack of Internet Access and the Resulting Public Health Crisis May 10, 2022
  • Connecting Generations with Digital Literacy Pioneer Tobey Dichter March 10, 2022
  • Supporting Digital and Racial Equity in San Francisco February 24, 2022

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internet help us essay

The Internet Will Help Society Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and the strong measures taken by governments, businesses, and schools to slow the spread of the virus have led to unprecedented circumstances that have affected how we live, work, learn, and play. While the burden of COVID-19 on the healthcare system is undeniable, the pandemic is also placing strain on the fabric of our society, including our places of work, our schools, and our recreation. 

At the core of this fabric today is the Internet, whose designers are, by many accounts, doing a victory lap right now. Many interesting recent studies show that, overall, the Internet has sustained the changes in traffic load quite well, although peak usage has now extended from “prime time” to all day (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and is up almost 40 percent in some parts of the network.

Still, the Internet itself is being tested like never before. Much of the workforce is now working from home; more students — from preschool to college —are engaged in remote learning. All of these activities rely on internet usage, placing unprecedented demand upon broadband network infrastructure and potentially deepening existing inequities in access to reliable, high-speed Internet. 

To understand how these challenges are testing, more than ever, both the Internet’s technical foundation and the society that relies on it, CDAC is launching a new initiative to deploy our expertise and collaborative relationships towards studying how this pandemic has affected the Internet network — how it is responding globally, and how well local communities are able to make use of it. 

In response to a variety of funding calls from the government and industry, we’re initiating projects to study the Internet’s response under crisis, based on an unprecedented coordination of data about network traffic load through granular measurements, proprietary data-sharing agreements, and user experiences, as well as extensive baseline data spanning over ten years. 

Using these tools, we aim to study how the existing Internet infrastructure can sustain exogenous “shocks,” such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, that dramatically shift the location, nature, and scale of network traffic.

This question entails both technical and societal implications. On the technical side, we will explore how network traffic patterns have changed under pandemic “stay-at-home” orders, and how the performance of both networks and popular web applications have responded. These findings can help Internet service providers, content providers such as YouTube or Netflix, and application developers better respond to future surges and shifts in demand, as well as understand how different parts of the network, from the access links to the interconnects, respond to global stresses.

But as the pandemic and its consequences have powerfully demonstrated, the performance of the Internet is not a purely technical question — rather, it has vast and broad societal implications for the economy, for education, for innovation, and for how we interact with each other as members of society, both at at work and at play. Even before COVID-19, experts at the Federal Communications Commission and elsewhere have long decried the “digital divide” and “ homework gap ” between families and students with reliable high-speed internet at home and those without such access.

According to the FCC , as of 2018, 21 million Americans and a quarter of US households with children under 8 years old have no access at all to high-speed Internet; 12 million children in the US are affected by the homework gap, and 18% of students currently lack Internet access at home . Low-income or rural students often rely upon public sources of internet connectivity, such as schools or libraries, to complete assigned work that requires online resources. At a time when even these institutions must close and all schoolwork is homework, inequities in access to digital and online resources are poised to exacerbate these disparities .

Understanding broadband Internet performance in crisis situations will yield important insights about how government policies to close schools and rely on remote e-learning may affect the broader population. We also need to better understand how the increased strain on the Internet affects other critical application areas, such as medicine and public health, remote caregiving, and online legal or political processes. A lower-quality streaming movie is irritating, but the inability to support a doctor-patient video visit could be life-threatening.

We’re excited to already have several partners from industry and government agencies providing data and expertise on network usage and broadband access both before and during the COVID-19 crisis. Yet, the implications of connectivity are far reaching, with implications in fields including economics and social science, education, medicine, and more. If you’re interested in working with us on this critical and urgent research project, please contact us at [email protected] .

Light Reading Podcast: Nick Feamster on Staying Connected in a Pandemic

Researchers develop ai to diagnose, understand covid-19 in lung images, cdac director nick feamster argues for better internet speed tests in cacm, more on this topic, it matters panel: data science institute, introducing the uchicago data science institute, practical steps for improving your wi-fi, what’s on your internet performance dashboard.

COVID-19 has taught us the internet is critical and needs public interest oversight

Subscribe to the center for technology innovation newsletter, tom wheeler tom wheeler visiting fellow - governance studies , center for technology innovation @tewheels.

April 29, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has graphically illustrated the importance of digital networks and service platforms. Imagine the shelter-in-place reality we would have experienced at the beginning of the 21 st century, only two decades ago: a slow internet and (because of that) nothing like Zoom or Netflix.

Digital networks that deliver the internet to our homes, and the services that ride on those networks have leapt from an ancillary “nice to have” to something that is critical to economic activity and our daily lives. It is time to consider whether these companies are too important to be left to make the rules governing their behavior themselves.

New rules for a new reality

It is neither unusual, nor untoward that innovators make the rules for the new reality they create. After all, they are the ones who see the future. The last time there was a major technological revolution—the industrial revolution—it was industrial capitalists like Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan who made the rules. However, it ultimately became necessary to assert the public interest in the oversight of these activities.

The connectivity and services built by information capitalists have become  too important to be left any longer without public participation in determining the rules they follow.

This does not mean that we need heavy-handed regulation like in the industrial era. But it does mean that the critical nature of these digital services warrants public interest representation in decisions about their practices. We know the results of the companies making the rules. Because there was no public representation, our personal information is now a corporate commodity. Similarly, because the companies make their own rules, they are free to hoard that data in order to thwart potential competitors and new services.

The operation of the information economy is different from the operation of the industrial economy. While companies operating in both must invest in the necessary plant and equipment , the economics of how that investment performs differ with the assets used by each. Industrial assets such as coal or ore are exhausted by being use, while information assets are soft, inexhaustible, and iterative. When Ford builds a new truck, for instance, the company incurs incremental costs to procure the glass, metal, tires, and other hard assets. But when Facebook adds a new customer, it reuses the same software that enabled billions of other customers. Similarly, the production of a new truck is an end unto itself. But the addition of a new digital user by a network such as AT&T or a service such as YouTube is the beginning of the iterative production of new data, generated by the use of the product, that can be monetized in new services at virtually no marginal cost to the company.

Four Ideas for Public Participation

Because the economics, and thus the practices, of information companies are different, we must look beyond the industrial era regulatory model. Here are four ideas to incorporate public participation in establishing the rules for the critical services of the information era:

First, do not pretend these challenges can be shoehorned into industrial era regulatory structures. This is not a criticism of the existing agencies whose important work should continue, but a recognition that digital market activity is different. The current regulatory structure, for instance, is built around “who” does something rather than “what” is being done. In the Industrial Age, the networks that carried the product were different from the product itself and separate regulators made sense. In the digital era where the “what” is the manipulation of zeroes and ones, our current regulatory structure has been outpaced and needs to catch up.

Second, digital companies should have a seat at the table in the development of the rules rather than having them force-fed. The National Electrical Code, for instance, is an industry-developed standard that is adopted into law. A “Digital Code of Practice” will similarly allow policies to keep up with technology rather than being tied to old rules. There should be a new federal agency that convenes, oversees, and approves a public-private process that establishes an agency-enforceable Digital Code.

Third, this new Digital Code is not a substitute for antitrust enforcement. The Digital Code is about the behavior of the companies in the services they offer to the public. If a company behaves in an anticompetitive manner, including mergers, that should be the jurisdiction of antitrust enforcers and the Code should not include antitrust exemption.

Fourth, the regulatory oversight needs to be principles-based and agile. Industrial production was a rules-based linear process where each person on the shop floor followed rules for a specific task. Industrial regulation followed the same rigid pattern. In contrast, modern digital products are never finished (think how your smartphone is always updating its software). Digital products are constantly adapting to the changes in their environment. This agile development needs to find its equivalent in agile regulation. Heavy-handed industrial “do this or else” needs to give way to “this is how technology is changing and business practices must evolve as well.”

COVID-19 demonstrated how our networks and the services they deliver are a critical part of our lives and our economy. Something that critical is too important not to have a public interest obligation. At the same time, such public interest oversight must operate in a manner that reflects the realities of the information era and not be stuck in industrial era structures and concepts.

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All Tech Considered

All Tech Considered

Does the internet make you more — or less — connected.

internet help us essay

The new concert experience: Is that digital device an impediment or an enhancement to your life? Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

The new concert experience: Is that digital device an impediment or an enhancement to your life?

The other day my friend Mordy asked me this question:

Are you more or less connected since you started spending so much time on the Internet?

I'm more connected to people I don't know.

I'm equally connected to the people I do know.

I'm less connected to myself.

The other day, I was watching Arcade Fire play at the Outside Lands music festival when I thought to myself: I wonder if Michael Sippey is here right now? Michael is one of many friends I've made on the Internet. We all share common interests (the main one seems to be the Internet itself) and frequent a lot of the same virtual conversations. From following Michael Sippey on Twitter , Facebook and our common music streaming service, I know that he is a fellow Arcade Fire fan. It's just one of the personal details and threads of commonality I share with a growing community of fellow web professionals and others whose path I regularly cross. This community wouldn't exist for me without the assistance of the Internet and the suite of social software that now rides its rails.

I'm a member of several of these virtual groups, large and small. I count on these folks for much of my news. On blogs and Twitter, we share inside jokes and opinions, and riff off each other in the same way I do with my friends in real life.

It turns out Michael Sippey was at the same show and even in the same section, but true to form, the only interaction we had was via a couple follow-up emails. Keepin' it virtual is the new keepin' it real.

The Internet has had a dual effect on the level of connectedness I feel with the people I know in my offline life. On one hand, the basic communication tools now available make distance almost a non-issue. My conversation with Mordy that led to this post took place over instant messenger where we communicate nearly every day – far more often than we ever did before the Internet, even though back then, we were only separated by a few blocks, not a few thousand miles.

On the other hand, when I am actually with my friends and family, I find myself (and increasingly, my companions) distracted by a smartphone that's either the object of my gaze or being fingered in my front pocket.

In a recent Pew Internet survey , 13 percent of cell owners said that they've pretended to be using their phone in order to avoid interacting with the people around them. I'm assuming the other 87% of cell owners were not pretending at all, and were using their phones because they just couldn't help themselves. I recently walked through a hotel restaurant where every single person was interacting with a device of some sort. They were together spatially, but that was about it.

The actual number of social interactions I have with friends hasn't been impacted by the Internet. But I do worry that the quality of those interactions has taken a hit because everyone in the room is not only connected to each other, but also to everything else in the world.

So when it comes to my connectedness with people I know, I'd say it's about a draw. The overall frequency of our interactions has increased, but my ability to focus on them and only them has become more challenging in this age of distraction.

The distractions play an even more aggressive role when it comes to my connection with myself. Most of the moments once reserved for a little alone time have been infiltrated by the realtime Internet. I never just wait for a bus, or just stand in line at a bank, or even just sit and think as I sit stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. At these moments, I pull my phone out of my pocket faster than a gunfighter pulls his weapon out of its holster.

The only time I really experience any self-reflection these days is when my computer sleeps and my screen goes dark.

And I'm not alone. According to Pew, 42 percent of cell owners used their phone for entertainment when they were bored. If those 42 percent of people are anything like me, that so-called boredom now arrives sooner than the random thoughts that can lead to self-reflection, creativity or just a few seconds of nothingness. I can draw my phone faster than my mind can wander.

Of course, the draw of our devices is about more than relieving boredom (a goal the devices only occasionally achieve). It's about getting a fix; reacting to a feeling of urgency that you've got to keep up with whatever it is that's coming into your stream right now. Part of the power of the realtime web is that it can quickly make you feel like you can't live without a flow of data that you easily lived without before you discovered it.

That's the Internet's reverse placebo effect: you feel as though you were missing something important before you signed up for the latest service. It's a drug for an ailment you never had.

At that same Arcade Fire concert, a guy in front of me held his camera phone towards the big screen that flanked the stage and hit the video record button. He stood like that for a long time, separated from a live concert by two screens. Maybe he gained some social benefit by sharing the video with a friend or a broader Internet audience. But the concert provided him an opportunity to lose himself in the music and the moment. He let a screen block that experience.

I'm thankful that I can use the Internet to connect with my old friends and my newer, virtual communities. But I'm worried about the price of that always-on connection. Without the Internet, my friend Mordy never would have asked me the question that led to this post. With the Internet, it's a lot less likely I'll ask similar questions of myself.

Dave Pell is a San Francisco based, Web-addicted insider, investor and entrepreneur. He has been blogging for more than a decade. This post first appeared on his blog Tweetage Wasteland . You can also follow Dave on Twitter.

The Legend of Newton’s Apple Tree

The enigma of junk dna, openmind books, scientific anniversaries, the history of the number pi, featured author, latest book, the internet and education, introduction.

In many ways, it is difficult to discuss any aspect of contemporary society without considering the Internet. Many people’s lives are saturated so thoroughly with digital technology that the once obvious distinction between either being  online  or  offline  now fails to do justice to a situation where the Internet is implicitly  always on . Indeed, it is often observed that younger generations are unable to talk about  the Internet  as a discrete entity. Instead, online practices have been part of young people’s lives since birth and, much like oxygen, water, or electricity, are assumed to be a basic condition of modern life. As Donald Tapscott (2009, 20) put it, “to them, technology is like the air.” Thus, in many ways, talking about  the Internet  and education simply means talking about contemporary  education . The Internet is already an integral element of education in (over)developed nations, and we can be certain that its worldwide educational significance will continue to increase throughout this decade.

That said, the educational impact of the Internet is not straightforward. At a rudimentary level, it is important to remember that well over half the world’s population has no direct experience of using  the Internet  at all. While this is likely to change with the global expansion of mobile telephony, the issue of unequal access to the most enabling and empowering forms of Internet use remains a major concern. Moreover—as the continued dominance of  traditional  forms of classroom instruction and paper-and-pencil examinations suggest—the educational changes being experienced in the Internet age are complex and often compromised. In addressing the topic of “the Internet and education” we therefore need to proceed with caution. As such, this chapter will consider the following questions:

  • What are the potential implications of the Internet for education and learning?
  • What dominant forms of Internet-based education have emerged over the past 20 years?
  • How does the educational potential of the Internet relate to the realities of its use?
  • Most importantly, how should we understand the potential gains and losses of what is being advanced?

The Internet as an Educational Tool

For many commentators, the Internet has always been an inherently educational tool. Indeed, many people would argue that the main characteristics of the Internet align closely with the core concerns of education. For instance, both the Internet  and  education are concerned with information exchange, communication, and the creation of knowledge.

The participatory, communal nature of many social Internet applications and activities is aligned closely with the fundamental qualities of how humans learn, not least the practices of creating, sharing, collaborating, and critiquing.

Thus, in light of the Internet’s capacity to allow these activities to take place on a vast and almost instantaneous scale, the educational implications of the Internet are understandably often described in grand terms. Take, for example, this recent pronouncement from Jeb Bush:

The Internet isn’t just a powerful tool for communication. It’s arguably the most potent force for learning and innovation since the printing press. And it’s at the center of what is possibly America’s mightiest struggle and greatest opportunity: How to reimagine education for a transformative era.

(Bush and Dawson 2013)

Beyond such hyperbole, the implications of the Internet for education and learning can be understood in at least four distinct ways. First, is the potential of the Internet to offer individual learners increased freedom from the physical limitations of the  real world . This is often expressed in terms of reducing constraints of place, space, time, and geography, with individuals able to access high-quality learning opportunities and educational provision regardless of local circumstances. The Internet is therefore portrayed as allowing education to take place on an  any time, any place, any pace  basis. Many commentators extend these  freedoms  into a transcendence of social and material disadvantage, with the Internet perceived as an inherently democratizing medium. The ability to support  freer  and  fairer educational interactions and experiences is seen to reflect the Internet’s underpinning qualities as “a radically democratic zone of infinite connectivity” (Murphy 2012, 122).

Secondly, the Internet is seen to support a  new culture of learning —i.e., learning that is based around  bottom-up  principles of collective exploration, play, and innovation rather than  top-down  individualized instruction (Thomas and Seely-Brown 2011). The Internet allows learning to take place on a  many-to-many  rather than  one-to-many  basis, thereby supporting  socio-constructivist  modes of learning and cognitive development that are profoundly social and cultural in nature. Many educators would consider learners to benefit from the socially rich environments that the Internet can support (see Luckin 2010). For example, it is often argued that the Internet offers individuals enhanced access to sources of knowledge and expertise that exist outside of their immediate environment. In this sense, there is now considerable interest in the ability of the Internet to support powerful forms of  situated learning  and digitally dispersed  communities of practice . The Internet is therefore seen as a powerful tool in supporting learning through  authentic  activities and interactions between people and extended social environments.

Thirdly, the capacity of the Internet to support a mass  connectivity  between people and information is felt to have radically altered the relationship between individuals and knowledge. It is sometimes argued that the Internet supports forms of knowledge creation and knowledge consumption that differ greatly from the epistemological presumptions of formal schooling and mass instruction. The networked relationships that Internet users have with online information have prompted wholesale reassessments of the nature of learning. Some educationalists are now beginning to advance ideas of  fluid intelligence  and  connectivism —reflecting the belief that learning via the Internet is contingent on the ability to access and use distributed information on a  just-in-time  basis. From this perspective,  learning  is understood as the ability to connect to specialized information nodes and sources as and when required. Thus being  knowledgeable  relates to the ability to nurture and maintain these connections (see Chatti, Jarke, and Quix 2010). As George Siemens (2004) puts it, learning can therefore be conceived in terms of the “capacity to know more” via the Internet rather than relating to the individual accumulation of prior knowledge in terms of “what is currently known.”

Fourthly, the Internet is seen to have dramatically  personalized  the ways in which people learn—thereby making education a far more individually determined process than was previously the case. The Internet is associated with an enhanced social autonomy and control, offering individuals increased choice over the nature and form of what they learn, as well as where, when, and how they learn it. Education is therefore a wholly controllable aspect of one’s personal life, with the Internet facilitating a  digital juggling  of educational engagement alongside daily activities and other commitments (Subrahmanyam and Šmahel 2011). Indeed, Internet users are often celebrated as benefiting from an enhanced capacity to self-organize and  curate  educational engagement for themselves, rather than relying on the norms and expectations of an education  system .

The Educational Implications of the Internet

All these various shifts and realignments clearly constitute a fundamental challenge to the  traditional  forms of educational provision and practice that were established throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially institutionalized modes of  formal  schooling and university education. For many commentators, therefore, the Internet contradicts the monopoly of state education systems and the vested interests of the professions that work within them. In all of the ways just outlined, the Internet would certainly seem to test established educational boundaries between  ex perts  and  novices , the production and consumption of knowledge, as well as the timing and location of learning. In terms of how education is provided, the Internet is associated with a range of radically different learning practices and altered social relations.

The Internet has certainly prompted ongoing debate and concern within the educational community. On one hand, many educationalists are busying themselves with rethinking and reimagining the notion of  the school  and  the university  in ways that respond to the demands of the Internet age. There have been various proposals over the past decade for the development of educational institutions that are better aligned with the characteristics of Internet-adept learners and online knowledge. As Collins and Halverson (2009, 129) put it, the task of reinventing schools and universities for the Internet age involves not only “rethinking what is important to learn” but also “rethinking learning.” This has seen modes of schooling being developed that are built around the communal creation (rather than individual consumption) of knowledge, in an attempt to imbue learning with a sense of play, expression, reflection, and exploration. The past ten years has seen a rash of ideas from enthusiastic educators proposing the development of new pedagogies and curricula built around social interaction, exploration,  gaming , and  making . All of these proposals for  school 2.0  reflect what Whitby (2013, 9–11) describes as  new models  of education provision based around “openness to learning and masterful tech-savvy.”

However, in contrast to these  re-schooling  proposals has been a countermovement to align the Internet with more radical forms of educational deinstitutionalization. These  de-schooling  arguments have proven popular with groups outside of the traditional  education establishment , framing the Internet as capable of usurping the need for educational institutions altogether. Key concepts here include self-determination, self-organization, self-regulation, and (in a neat twist on the notion of  do-it-yourself ) the idea of  do-it-ourselves . All these ideas align the Internet with a general rejection of institutionalized education—especially what has long been critiqued as the obsolete  banking model  of accumulating  knowledge content . Instead, Internet-based education is conceived along lines of open discussion, open debate, radical questioning, continuous experimentation, and the sharing of knowledge.

As with other aspects of digital activity, education is therefore imagined as something that is now open to reprogramming, modification, and hacking to better suit one’s individual needs.

As Dale Stephens (2013, 9) reasons:

The systems and institutions that we see around us—of schools, college, and work—are being systematically dismantled…. If you want to learn the skills required to navigate the world—the hustle, networking, and creativity—you’re going to have to hack your own education.

These are all highly contestable but highly seductive propositions. Indeed, whether one agrees with them or not, these arguments all highlight the fundamental challenge of the Internet to what was experienced throughout the past one hundred years or so as the dominant mode of education. It is therefore understandable that the Internet is now being discussed in terms of inevitable educational change, transformation, and the general  disruption  of twentieth-century models of education provision and practice. As the noted technology commentator Jeff Jarvis (2009, 210) concluded in an acclaimed overview of the Internet’s societal significance, “education is one of the institutions most deserving of disruption—and with the greatest opportunities to come of it.” Bold statements such as these are now being made with sufficient frequency and conviction that talk of an impending  digital disruption  of education is now rarely contested. Many people, therefore, see the prospect of the Internet completely reinventing education not as a matter of  if , but as a matter of  when .

Prominent Forms of Internet-Based Education

In the face of such forceful predictions of what  will  happen, it is perhaps sensible to take a step back and consider the realities of what has already happened with the Internet and education. As was suggested at the beginning of this chapter, amidst these grand claims of transformation and disruption, it is important to ask how the educational potential of the Internet is  actually  being realized in practice. In this sense, we should acknowledge that the Internet has been long used for educational purposes, and a number of prominent models of Internet-based education have emerged over the past 20 years. Perhaps the most established of these are various forms of what has come to be known as  e-learning —ranging from online courses through to virtual classrooms and even virtual schools. Many early forms of e-learning involved the predominantly one-way delivery of learning content, thereby replicating traditional  correspondence  forms of distance education. These programs (which continue to the present day) tend to rely on online content management systems, albeit supported by some form of interactivity in the form of e-mail, bulletin boards, and other communications systems. Alongside these forms of content delivery is the continued development of so-called virtual classrooms—usually spatial representations of classrooms or lecture theaters that can be  inhabited  by learners and teachers. Often these virtual spaces are designed to support synchronous forms of  live  instruction and feedback, with learners able to listen to lectures and view videos and visual presentations while also interacting with other learners via text and voice. Other asynchronous forms of virtual classroom exist in the form of digital spaces where resources can be accessed and shared—such as audio recordings and text transcripts of lectures, supplementary readings, and discussion forums. These forms of e-learning have continued to be developed since the 1990s, with entire  cyber schools  and online universities now well-established features of educational systems around the world.

While these examples of  e-learning  tend to replicate the basic structure and procedures of  bricks-and-mortar  schools and universities, a variety of other models of Internet-supported education have emerged over the past 20 years. One of the most familiar forms of Internet-based education is the collective  open  creation of information and knowledge, as exemplified by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Despite ongoing debates over its accuracy and coverage, the educational significance of Wikipedia is considerable. As well as being a vast information resource, the ability of users to contribute and refine content is seen to make  wiki  tools such as Wikipedia a significant educational tool. The belief now persists amongst many educators that mass user-driven applications such as Wikipedia allow individuals to engage in learning activities that are more personally meaningful and more publically significant than was ever possible before. As John Willinsky (2009, xiii) reasons:

Today a student who makes the slightest correction to a Wikipedia article is contributing more to the state of public knowledge, in a matter of minutes, than I was able to do over the course of my entire grade school education, such as it was.

These characteristics of wiki tools correspond with the wider  Open Educational Resource  movement which is concerned with making professionally developed educational materials available online for no cost. In this manner, it is reckoned that content from almost 80 percent of courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are available on this free-to-use basis. Similar commitments can be found in institutions ranging from world-class universities such as Yale and Oxford to local community colleges. In all these cases, course materials such as seminar notes, podcasts, and videos of lectures are shared online with a worldwide population of learners, most of whom could otherwise not attend. Crucially (as with Wikipedia), the emphasis of Open Educational Resources is not merely permitting individuals to use provided materials, but encouraging the alteration and amendment of these resources as required. For example, the UK Open University’s extensive OpenLearn project provides free online access to all of the institution’s curriculum materials with an invitation for individual users to adapt these resources as they wish.

Other forms of online content sharing involve the open distribution of educational content that has been created by individuals as well as institutions. For example, the YouTube EDU service offers access to millions of educational videos produced by individual educators and learners. Similarly, Apple Computers’ collection of educational media—the so-called iTunes U—is designed to allow learners to circumvent traditional educational lectures and classes in favor of on-demand free mobile learning (Çelik, Toptaş, and Karaca 2012). Describing itself as “possibly the world’s greatest collection of free educational media available to students, teachers, and lifelong learners,” iTunes U offers free access to hundreds of thousands of educational audio and video podcast files. Most recently, there has been considerable praise for the Khan Academy’s online provision of thousands of bespoke educational videos alongside interactive quizzes and assessments covering a range of subject areas and topics. The aim of Khan Academy is to support individuals to learn at their own pace and to revisit learning content on a repeated basis. This so-called flipped classroom model is intended to allow individuals to engage with instructional elements of learning  before  entering a formal classroom. Face-to-face classroom time can be then be devoted to the practical application of the knowledge through problem solving, discovery work, project-based learning, and experiments (Khan 2012).

Another notable  open  example of Internet-based education has been the development of  MOOCs  (Massively Open Online Courses) over the past five years or so. Now, most notably through successful large-scale ventures such as Coursera and Ed-X, MOOCs involve the online delivery of courses on a free-at-the-point-of-contact basis to mass audiences. At its heart, the MOOC model is based on the idea of individuals being encouraged to learn through their own choice of online tools—what has been termed  personal learning networks —the collective results of which can be aggregated by the course coordinators and shared with other learners. This focus on individually directed discovery learning has proved especially appropriate to college-level education. Now it is possible for individuals of all ages to participate in mass online courses run by professors from the likes of Stanford, MIT, and Harvard universities in subjects ranging from a Yale elective in Roman architecture to a Harvard course in the fundamentals of neuroscience.

Another radical application of the Internet to support self-directed, non-institutional learning are initiatives such as the  hole-in-the-wall  and  School in the Cloud initiatives. These programs are built around an ethos of  minimally invasive education  where children and young people can access digital technology at any time, and teach themselves how to use computers and the Internet on an individually paced basis. The guiding ethos for the original hole-in-the-wall program was to locate Internet access in what Arora (2010, 691) characterizes as “out-of-the-way, out-of-the-mind locations” rather than in formal settings such as schools or universities. Indeed, the program’s credo of minimally invasive education is an avowedly non-institutionalized one, with children expected to engage with the Internet as an educative tool “free of charge and free of any supervision” (Mitra 2010). This approach is seen to be especially applicable to locations such as slum communities in India and Cambodia where Internet access is otherwise lacking. The recent elaboration of the initiative into the School in the Cloud marks an attempt to use online communication tools to allow older community members in high-income countries to act as mentors and  friendly but knowledgeable  mediators to young autonomous learners in lower-income communities. The provision of such access and support is therefore seen to underpin what the project team term “self-organized learning environments” and “self-activated learning”—thus providing an alternative “for those denied formal schooling” in low-income countries (Arora 2010, 700).

These programs, projects, and initiatives are indicative of the variety of ways in which education and the Internet have coalesced over the past 20 years. Yet perhaps the most significant forms of Internet-based education are the completely  informal  instances of learning that occur in the course of everyday Internet use. In this sense the Internet’s implicit support of various forms of  informal learning  could be seen as its most substantial educational impact (see Ünlüsoy et al. 2014). As the cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito has described, there are various different genres of everyday Internet-based practice that can be said to involve elements of learning (see Ito et al. 2009). At a basic level is the popular practice of using the Internet to simply  hang out  with others. Often these forms of  hanging out  can spill over into more focused instances of what Ito terms  messing around —i.e., activities that are interest-driven and more centered on peer sociability, often involving fortuitous searching, experimentation, and playing with resources. This messing around can then sometimes lead to the more intense commitment of what Ito has described as geeking out . These are bouts of concentrated and intense participation within defined communities of like-minded and similarly interested individuals driven by common and often specialized interests. In supporting all these forms of  learning , everyday use of the Internet can be seen as an inherently educational activity.

The Reality of the Internet and Education

These examples—and many more like them—are now seen as proof of the Internet’s growing contribution to what it means to learn and be educated in the twenty-first century. Undoubtedly, developments such as MOOCs, flipped classrooms, and self-organized learning could well turn out to be educational  game changers (Oblinger 2012). Yet the history of educational technology over the past one hundred years or so warns us that change is rarely as instantaneous  or  as totalizing as many people would like to believe. Indeed, the history of  modern  educational technologies (starting with Thomas Edison’s championing of educational filmstrips in the 1910s) has usually been characterized by sets of complex mutually shaping relationships between education and technology (see Cuban 1986). In other words,  new technologies rarely—if ever—have a direct one-way  impact  or predictable  effect  on education. Rather, established cultures and traditions of education also have a profound reciprocal influence on technologies. As the historian Larry Cuban (1993, 185) observed succinctly of the remarkable resilience of schools to the waves of successive technological developments throughout the 1980s and 1990s, “computer meets classroom—classroom wins.” In asking how the Internet is shaping education in the 2010s, we therefore need to also ask the corresponding question of how education is shaping the Internet.

From this perspective, it is not surprising to see the most successful forms of Internet-based education and  e-learning  being those that reflect and even replicate  pre-Internet  forms of education such as classrooms, lectures, and books. It is also not surprising to see the long-established  grammar  of formal education and educational institutions having a strong bearing on emerging forms of Internet-based education (Tyack and Cuban 1995). Take, for instance, the persistence of familiar practices such as dividing knowledge into distinct subject areas, using graded individual assessments, or relying on  expert  teachers. While understandable, these continuities certainly belie claims of radical transformation and disruption of the educational status quo. Thus in contrast to the revolutionary zeal of some commentators, it could be observed that the Internet is having most  impact  on education where it is  not  causing radically new patterns of participation or practice. For instance, rather than extending educational opportunities to those who previously were excluded, the recent rise of the MOOC in countries such as the U.S. and UK appears primarily to be supporting well-resourced, highly motivated, and already well-educated individuals to engage in more education (thereby replicating a trend referred to by some social commentators as the  Matthew Effect ). This is not to say that MOOCs are an insignificant form of education—however, it does suggest that their main  impact  is that of increasing rather than widening educational participation. Indeed, this view does imply that some of the more  radical  claims of social transformation and change that surround MOOCs (and other forms of Internet-based education) require careful consideration.

This leaves any attempts to predict the likely influence of the Internet on future forms of education on uncertain ground. Of course, it is unwise to adapt an overtly cynical view that there is nothing  new  about Internet-based education at all—i.e., that the educational effects of the Internet are simply a case of  old wine in new bottles . Yet it is equally unwise to presume that any of the examples given so far in the chapter necessarily herald a fundamental shift in education. The Internet is certainly associated with educational changes—yet these changes are complex, contradictory, convoluted and decidedly  messy .

In this respect, perhaps the most significant issues that need to be considered about the Internet and education are sociological, rather than technical, in nature.

In this sense, the Internet prompts a range of ideological questions (rather than purely technical answers) about the nature of education in the near future. Thus, as this chapter draws to a close we should move away from the optimistic speculation that pervades most educational discussions of the Internet. Instead, there are a number of important but less often acknowledged social, cultural, and political implications that also merit attention:

1.The Internet and the increased individualization of education

First, then, is the way in which Internet-based education promotes an implicit individualization of practice and action. The Internet is celebrated by many educationalists as increasing the responsibility of individuals in terms of making choices with regards to education, as well as dealing with the consequences of their choice. All the forms of Internet education outlined in this chapter demand increased levels of self-dependence on the part of the individual, with educational success dependent primarily on the individual’s ability to self-direct their ongoing engagement with learning through various preferred means. Of course, this is usually assumed to work in favor of the individual and to the detriment of formal institutions. Yet the idea of the self-responsibilized, self-determining learner is based upon an unrealistic assumption that all individuals have a capacity to act in an agentic, empowered fashion throughout the course of their day-to-day lives. In Bauman’s (2001) terms, the successful online learner is someone able to act as an empowered individual  de facto  rather than an individual  de jure  (i.e., someone who simply has individualism  done to  them). Of course, only a privileged minority of people are able to act in a largely empowered fashion. As such this individualization of action leads to education becoming an area of increased risk as well as opportunity.

These issues raise a number of important questions. For instance, just how equal are individuals in being able to make the educational  choices  that the Internet actually offers? How are the apparent educational freedoms of the Internet resulting in enhanced  unfreedoms  (such as the intensification and extension of educational  work  into domestic settings)? To what extent are  personalized  forms of Internet education simply facilitating the  mass customization  of homogenous educational services and content? What is the nature of the collective forms of Internet-based education? How do  communities  of learners established through the Internet differ in terms of social diversity, obligation, or solidarity? Is the Internet undermining or even eroding notions of education as a public good?

2. The Internet and the growth of data-driven education

Another significant issue related to the increased educational significance of the Internet is the ways in which online data and information are now defining, as well as describing, social life. The Internet has certainly extended the significance of databases, data mining, analytics, and algorithms, with organizations and institutions functioning increasingly through the ongoing collection, aggregation, and (re)analysis of data. Crucially, the Internet allows this  data work  to take place on a mass, aggregated scale. We are now seen to be living in an era of  Big Data  where computerized systems are making available “massive quantities of information produced by and about people, things, and their interactions” (Boyd and Crawford 2012, 662).

The collection and analysis of online data is now a key aspect of how actions are structured and decisions are made in many areas of education. Now, for example, masses of online data are being generated, collected, and collated as a result of the Internet-based activities that take place within educational institutions—ranging from  in-house  monitoring of system conditions to the  public  collection of data at local, state, and federal levels. These data are used for a variety of purposes—including internal course administration, target setting, performance management, and student tracking. Similar processes and practices exist in terms of use of data  across  educational systems—from student databases to performance  league tables . There are, of course, many potential advantages to the heightened significance of online data. There has been much recent enthusiasm for the potential of  learning analytics —i.e., “the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs” (Siemens et al. 2011, 4). Similarly, there is growing discussion of  educational data mining  and  academic analytics . All of these uses of digital data are seen to lead to more efficient and transparent educational processes, as well as supporting individuals to self-monitor and  self-diagnose  their learning (Eynon 2013).

Yet, there is a clear need for caution amidst these potential advantages—not least how the increased prevalence of online data in education is implicated in the shaping of what people can and cannot do. For example, how are individuals and their learning being represented by data collected online? How does the Internet support the connection, aggregation, and use of these data in ways not before possible? To what extent are individuals’ educational engagements now being determined by  data profiles ? How are these online data being used in forms of  predictive surveillance  where educators and educational institutions use data relating to past performance and behavior to inform expectations of future behaviors? What aspects of educational engagement are  not  represented in the online data being collected and analyzed?

3. The Internet and the increased commercialization and privatization of education

Thirdly, is the need to recognize the role of commercial and private actors in the growth of Internet-based education. Indeed, the role of the private sector is integral to many of the forms of Internet-based education described in this chapter. For example, it is estimated that the global education/technology market is worth upwards of $7 trillion, with burgeoning levels of private capital investment in online education. A range of multinational commercial interests such as Pearson, Cengage, and McGraw-Hill are now involved heavily in the business of e-learning and online provision of teaching and training—competing with countless smaller commercial concerns and a range of nonprofit organizations. Clearly Internet-based education marks a distinct move away from a  planned economy  model where education provision is largely the preserve of state-run, public-sector institutions (see Picciano and Spring 2013).

Of course, the increased involvement of commercial interests in online education could be seen to have many potential benefits. The private sector is able to focus considerable technological resources and expertise on educational issues. It is often assumed that commercially provided education is more responsive to the demands of its  customers —be it the immediate preferences of learners or the longer-term workforce requirements of business and industry. Moreover, as Chubb and Moe (2012) reason, improvement can arise from market competition between private and public education providers: “in time, [for-profit institutions] may do amazing things with computerized instruction—imagine equivalents of Apple or Microsoft, with the right incentives to work in higher education—and they may give elite nonprofits some healthy competition in providing innovative, high-quality content.” Indeed, the appeal of many of the forms of Internet-based education described in this chapter is predicated upon bringing the innovation of the private sector to bear on the inefficiencies of public education. As Sebastian Thrun (the computer scientist credited with the popularization of the MOOC concept) argued recently: “Education is broken. Face it. It is so broken at so many ends, it requires a little bit of Silicon Valley magic” (Wolfson 2013).

Yet the possibilities for commercial innovation and  magic  notwithstanding, there are a number of reasons to challenge the growing influence of private interests in shaping education agendas in these ways. For example, how committed are IT producers and vendors to the public good of educational technology above and beyond matters of profit and market share? Given that education is an integral element in determining the life chances of the most vulnerable members of society, how appropriate is a Silicon Valley, venture-capitalist mindset of high-risk  start-ups  with expected high rates of failure? What are the moral and ethical implications of reshaping education along the lines of market forces and commercial values? Why should education correspond automatically with the needs of the digital economy?

4. The Internet and the changing values of education

Finally—and perhaps less tangibly—there is also a sense that the Internet might be altering the psychological, emotional, and spiritual bases of education. For example, many of the forms of online education discussed in this chapter imply an increased expansion of education into unfamiliar areas of society and social life—leading to an  always-on  state of potential educational engagement. Indeed, the  anytime, anyplace  nature of online education clearly involves the expansion of education and learning into domestic, work, and community settings where education and learning might previously have not been prominent. There are clear parallels here with what Basil Bernstein (2001) identified as the “total pedagogization of society”—i.e., a modern society that ensures that pedagogy is integrated into all possible spheres of life. This raises questions of what is perhaps lost when one is able to engage with education at all times of the day and in all contexts? Is there something to be said for being able to disconnect from the pressures of education? Is learning best suited to some contexts and circumstances than others?

Many of the forms of online education described in this chapter could also be said to frame learning (often inadvertently) as a competitive endeavor. Thus in contrast to allowing individuals to learn harmoniously alongside others, the Internet could be seen as placing individuals in “personal formative cycles, occupied in unison within individual feedback-action loops. They learn to become industrious self-improvers, accepting and implementing external goals” (Allen 2011, 378). Thus while a sense of achievement at the expense of others may not be immediately apparent, the Internet could be seen as a means of humanizing, disguising, and intensifying the competitive connotations of learning. Continuing this line of thinking, the partial, segmented, task-orientated, fragmented, and discontinuous nature of online education could perhaps even be seen as a form of  spiritual alienation —i.e., alienation at the level of meaning, where  conditions of good work  become detached from the  conditions of good character  (Sennett 2012).

All these points also relate to the correspondences between the Internet and the altered emotional aspects of educational engagement. In particular, many of the forms of Internet-based education described earlier in this chapter (such as the virtual school or the MOOC) could be said to involve learning being experienced on less immediate, less intimate, and perhaps more instrumental grounds. These points were explored in Jonathan Wolff’s (2013) recent reflections on what might be lost when a lecture takes place online as opposed to in a face-to-face lecture theater. While these diminishments are often difficult to pinpoint, Wolff suggested qualities such as the immediacy, the serendipity, and the  real-ness of the live experience  of learning alongside other people. Certainly, the remote, virtual sense of learning online is qualitatively different to the embodied sense of face-to-face learning—both in advantageous and disadvantageous ways.

Conclusions

Whether one agrees with any of these latter arguments or not, it is clear that the topic of “the Internet and education” needs to be approached in a circumspect manner. The predominantly optimistic rhetoric of transformation and change that currently surrounds the Internet and education distracts from a number of significant conflicts and tensions that need to be better acknowledged and addressed. This is not to say that we should adopt a wholly antagonistic  or  wholly pessimistic stance. Indeed, many of the  issues  just outlined should not be assumed automatically to be cause for concern. There are, after all, many people who will be advantaged by more individualized, elitist, competitive, market-driven, omnipresent, and de-emotionalized forms of educational engagement. The Internet clearly works for the millions of people who are learning online at this very moment.

Yet while it may well be that the Internet is helping  some  individuals to engage with education in more convenient, engaging, and useful ways, we would do well to acknowledge that this is unlikely to be the case for all. Any Internet-led changes in education are accompanied by a variety of unintended consequences,  second-order effects , and unforeseen implications. Perhaps the most important point to consider is the well-worn tendency of digital technology to reinforce existing patterns of educational engagement—helping already engaged individuals to participate further, but doing little to widen participation or reengage those who are previously disengaged. In particular, any discussion of the educational  potential  of the Internet needs to remain mindful of the limited usefulness of a  technical-fix  approach to understanding contemporary education. The Internet should not be seen as a ready  solution  to apparent inefficiencies of  twentieth-century  education institutions or practices—it will not lead automatically to more engaged or motivated learners, more highly skilled workforces, or rising levels of national intelligence and innovation. Instead, it is likely that many of the  problems  of contemporary education are primarily social and cultural in nature, and therefore require social and cultural responses.

As such, while there is plenty of scope for the increased use of the Internet within education, any claims for  change  and  improvement  should be seen as contentious and debatable matters, rather than inevitable trends that educators have no choice but to adapt to. To reiterate a key theme that has emerged throughout our discussion, underlying all of the issues raised in this chapter are questions of what sort of future education one believes in. As such, the role of the Internet in improving ,  transforming ,  or even disrupting  education is a deeply complex and ideologically loaded matter that goes well beyond technical issues of how to personalize the delivery of educational content, or support the production and consumption of online content. The future of education may well involve increased use of the Internet—but will not be determined by it.

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  • v.18(2); 2019 Jun

The “online brain”: how the Internet may be changing our cognition

Joseph firth.

1 NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Westmead, Australia

2 Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

3 Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

John Torous

4 Division of Digital Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Brendon Stubbs

5 Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK

6 Physiotherapy Department, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

Josh A. Firth

7 Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

8 Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Genevieve Z. Steiner

9 Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

10 Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

Mario Alvarez‐Jimenez

11 Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

John Gleeson

12 School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia

Davy Vancampfort

13 Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

14 University Psychiatric Center, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Christopher J. Armitage

15 NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK

16 NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, Manchester, UK

Jerome Sarris

17 Professorial Unit, The Melbourne Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia

The impact of the Internet across multiple aspects of modern society is clear. However, the influence that it may have on our brain structure and functioning remains a central topic of investigation. Here we draw on recent psychological, psychiatric and neuroimaging findings to examine several key hypotheses on how the Internet may be changing our cognition. Specifically, we explore how unique features of the online world may be influencing: a) attentional capacities, as the constantly evolving stream of online information encourages our divided attention across multiple media sources, at the expense of sustained concentration; b) memory processes, as this vast and ubiquitous source of online information begins to shift the way we retrieve, store, and even value knowledge; and c) social cognition, as the ability for online social settings to resemble and evoke real‐world social processes creates a new interplay between the Internet and our social lives, including our self‐concepts and self‐esteem. Overall, the available evidence indicates that the Internet can produce both acute and sustained alterations in each of these areas of cognition, which may be reflected in changes in the brain. However, an emerging priority for future research is to determine the effects of extensive online media usage on cognitive development in youth, and examine how this may differ from cognitive outcomes and brain impact of uses of Internet in the elderly. We conclude by proposing how Internet research could be integrated into broader research settings to study how this unprecedented new facet of society can affect our cognition and the brain across the life course.

The Internet is the most widespread and rapidly adopted technology in the history of humanity. In only decades, Internet use has completely re‐invented the ways in which we search for information, consume media and entertainment, and manage our social networks and relationships. With the even more recent advent of smartphones, Internet access has become portable and ubiquitous to the point at which the population of the developed world can be considered “online” 1 , 2 , 3 .

However, the impact that this new channel for connection, information, communication, and screen time is having on our brains and cognitive functioning is unclear. Prior to the Internet, a large body of research had convincingly demonstrated that the brain is somewhat malleable to environmental demands and stimuli, particularly with regards to learning new processes, due to its capacity for neuroplasticity 4 . Various scenarios have been observed to induce long‐term changes in the neuronal architecture of the human brain, including second‐language acquisition 5 , learning new motor skills (such as juggling) 6 , and even formal education or exam preparation 7 . The widespread use of the Internet across the globe has introduced, for many, the necessity and opportunity to learn a myriad of new skills and ways to interact with society, which could bring about neural changes. As an example, even simple interactions with the Internet through the smartphone's touchscreen interface have been demonstrated to bring about sustained neurocognitive alterations due to neural changes in cortical regions associated with sensory and motor processing of the hand and thumb 8 . Beyond this, the Internet also presents a novel platform for almost‐endless learning of new information and complex processes, relevant to both the online and offline world 9 .

Along with neuroplastic mechanisms, other environmental and biological factors can also cause changes in the brain's structure and function, resulting in cognitive decline 10 . In aging samples, for instance, there is evidence to indicate that age‐related cognitive decline may be partly driven by a process of atrophy. Some studies have shown that adopting a less engaging lifestyle across the lifespan may accelerate loss of cognitive function 11 , due to lower “cognitive reserve” (the ability of the brain to withstand insult from age and/or pathology) 12 . Some emerging evidence indicates that disengaging from the “real world” in favor of virtual settings may similarly induce adverse neurocognitive changes. For example, a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) 13 found that six weeks of engaging in an online role playing game caused significant reductions in grey matter within the orbitofrontal cortex – a brain region implicated in impulse control and decision making. However, the study did not address the extent to which these results were specific to online gaming, rather than general internet usage. Nonetheless, this raises the possibility that various types of Internet usage could differentially affect the brain and cognitive processes – in both adverse and beneficial ways. This may be of particular relevance to the developing brains of children and adolescents, as many cognitive processes (particularly those relevant to higher executive functions and social cognition) are not entirely innate, but rather are strongly influenced by environmental factors 14 .

Although only recently emerging, this possibility has led to a substantial body of research empirically investigating the multiple potential pathways through which the Internet could affect our brains’ structure, function, and cognitive development. Specifically, the bulk of existing research can be separated into three specific domains, examining how the internet is affecting: a) attention (i.e., how the constant influx of online information, prompts and notifications competing for our attention may encourage individuals to displace their concentration across multiple incoming media streams – and the consequences this may have for attentional‐switching versus sustained‐attention tasks); b) memory and knowledge (i.e., the extent to which we rely on the Internet as our primary informational resource, and how unique properties of online information access may affect how we process new memories and value our internal knowledge); c) social cognition (along with the personal and societal consequences of increasingly embedding our social networks, interactions, and status within the online world).

In this state‐of‐the‐art review, we present the current leading hypotheses of how the Internet may alter these cognitive processes, subsequently examining the extent to which these hypotheses are supported by recent findings from psychological, psychiatric and neuroimaging research. In this way, we aggregate the contemporary evidence arising from multiple fields of research to produce revised models on how the Internet may be affecting our brains and cognition. Furthermore, whereas studies to date have focused upon only specific age groups, we examine the effects of the Internet on the human brain across the entire life course. In particular, we explore how the potential benefits/drawbacks of extensive Internet integration with cognitive processes may differ among children and older adults. Finally, we identify important gaps in the existing literature to present key priorities for future research in order to gain new insights for minimizing detrimental effects of the Internet, while capitalizing on this new feature of our societies to potentially influence neurocognitive processes in a beneficial way.

“DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS”: A HIJACK OF ATTENTION ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY?

How does the internet gain and sustain our attention.

The Internet consumes a considerable chunk of our attention on a day‐to‐day basis. The vast majority of adults go online daily, and over a quarter report being online “almost constantly” 2 . Within this, one in five American adults are now “smartphone‐only” Internet users 1 . Importantly, the introduction of these Internet‐enabled mobile devices has also reduced the “digital divide” previously experienced by lower and middle income countries 15 . The amount and frequency of Internet usage is even more pronounced amongst younger people. Most adults today witnessed the beginning of the transition from “Internet‐free” to “Internet‐everywhere” societies. However, younger generations (termed “digital natives” 16 ) have been brought up entirely within a “connected world” , particularly in developed countries. Consequently, digital natives are often the first to adopt new online technologies as they arise 16 , and engage extensively with all existing features of the Internet. For instance, 95% of US teens have access to a smartphone, and 45% are online “almost constantly” 3 .

Multiple factors are driving the rapid uptake and extensive usage of Internet‐enabled technologies across the globe. This is partly due to the Internet now being unavoidable, ubiquitous, and a highly functional aspect of modern living. For instance, Internet use is now deeply entwined with education, travel, socializing, commerce, and the majority of workplaces. Along with pragmatic uses, the Internet also offers an endless array of recreational and entertainment activities, through podcasts, e‐books, videos, streaming movies and gaming. However, the ability of the Internet to capture and hold attention is not solely due to the quality of media content available online. Rather, it is also driven by the underlying design and presentation of the online world. One such example is the self‐evolving “attraction mechanism”; whereby aspects of the Internet that fail to gain attention are quickly drowned out in the sea of incoming information, while the successful aspects of the adverts, articles, apps or anything that does manage to capture our attention (even superficially) are logged (through clicks and scrolls), noticed (through online shares), and subsequently proliferated and expanded upon. Alongside this, leading technology companies have been accused of intentionally capitalizing on the addictive potential of Internet, by studying, testing, and refining the attention‐grabbing aspects of their websites and applications (“apps”) to promote extremely high levels of engagement, without due concern for user well‐being 17 .

Furthermore, even when not using the Internet for any specific purpose, smartphones have introduced widespread and habitual “checking” behaviours, characterized by quick but frequent inspections of the device for incoming information from news, social media, or personal contacts 18 . These habits are thought to be the result of behavioural reinforcement from “information rewards” that are received immediately on checking the device 19 , potentially engaging the cortico‐striatal dopaminergic system due to their readily available nature 20 . The variable‐ratio reinforcement schedule inherent to device checking may further perpetuate these compulsive behaviours 21 .

Cognitive consequences of the attention‐grabbing Internet

The unprecedented potential of the Internet to capture our attention presents an urgent need for understanding the impact that this may have on our thought processes and well‐being. Already, education providers are beginning to perceive detrimental effects of the Internet on children's attention, with over 85% of teachers endorsing the statement that “today's digital technologies are creating an easily distracted generation” 22 . The primary hypothesis on how the Internet affects our attentional capacities is through hyperlinks, notifications, and prompts providing a limitless stream of different forms of digital media, thus encouraging us to interact with multiple inputs simultaneously, but only on a shallow level, in a behavioural pattern termed “media multi‐tasking” 23 , 24 .

The seminal study by Ophir et al 23 was among the first to explore the sustained impact of media multi‐tasking on cognitive capacities. This was a cross‐sectional study of individuals who engaged in “heavy” (i.e., frequent and extensive) media multi‐tasking compared to those who did not. Cognitive testing of the two groups produced the then‐surprising finding that those involved in heavy media multi‐tasking performed worse in task‐switching tests than their counterparts – contrary to the authors’ expectation that the “extra practice” afforded by frequent media multi‐tasking would confer cognitive benefit in task‐switching scenarios. Closer inspection of findings suggested that the impeded task‐switching ability in heavy media multi‐tasking individuals was due to their increased susceptibility to distraction from irrelevant environmental stimuli 23 .

Since these initial findings, the effects of media multi‐tasking on cognition have come under increasing scrutiny, because the increasingly diverse forms of entertainment and activities available through the online world can further our capabilities (and temptation) of engaging in media multi‐tasking 25 , even on single devices. For instance, Yeykelis et al 26 measured participants’ media multi‐tasking between different types of online media content while using just one device (personal laptops), and found that switches occurred as frequently as every 19 seconds, with 75% of all on‐screen content being viewed for less than one minute. Measures of skin conductance during the study found that arousal increased in the seconds leading up to media switching, reaching a high point at the moment of the switch, followed by a decline afterward 26 . Again, this suggests that the proclivity for alternating between different computer windows, opening new hyperlinks, and performing new searches could be driven by the readily available nature of the informational rewards, which are potentially awaiting in the unattended media stream. Supporting this, the study also found that, whereas switching from work‐related content to entertainment was associated with increased arousal in anticipation of the switch, there was no anticipatory arousal spike associated with entertainment to work‐content switches 26 .

The growing concern around the increasing amount of media multi‐tasking with the spread of ubiquitous Internet access has resulted in further empirical studies. These have produced conflicting findings, with some failing to find any adverse effects on attention 27 , and others indicating that media multi‐tasking may even be linked to increased performance for other aspects of cognition, such as multisensory integration 28 . Nonetheless the literature, on balance, does seem to indicate that those who engage in frequent and extensive media multi‐tasking in their day‐to‐day lives perform worse in various cognitive tasks than those who do not, particularly for sustained attention 25 .

Imaging studies have shed light onto the neural differences which may account for these cognitive deficits. Functionally, those who engage in heavy media multi‐tasking perform poorer in distracted attention tasks, even though exhibiting greater activity in right prefrontal regions 29 . As right prefrontal regions are typically activated in response to distractor stimuli, the observed increases in recruitment of these regions alongside poorer performance suggests that heavy media multi‐taskers require greater cognitive effort to maintain concentration when faced with distractor stimuli 29 . Structurally, high levels of Internet usage 30 and heavy media multi‐tasking 31 are associated with decreased grey matter in prefrontal regions associated with maintaining goals in face of distraction (such as the right frontal pole and anterior cingulate cortex). However, the findings to date must be interpreted with caution, as various confounding factors may be affecting the results of these cross‐sectional imaging studies. Although the differences persist when controlling for general digital media use and other simple confounders (age, gender, etc.), further research is required to examine if the observed neural differences are specifically attributable to heavy vs. light media multi‐tasking, or in fact driven by broader differences in lifestyle between the two groups.

Given the amount of time that people now spend in media multi‐tasking via personal digital devices, it is increasingly relevant to consider not only sustained changes which arise in those who engage in large amounts of media multi‐tasking, but also the acute effects on immediate cognitive capacities. A meta‐analysis of 41 studies showed that engaging in multi‐tasking was associated with significantly poorer overall cognitive performance, with a moderate‐to‐large effect size (Cohen's d=–0.71, 95% CI: –0.86 to –0.57). This has been confirmed by more recent studies, further showing that even short‐term engagement with an extensively hyperlinked online environment (i.e., online shopping for 15 minutes) reduces attentional scope for a sustained duration after coming offline, whereas reading a magazine does not produce these deficits 32 .

Overall, the available evidence strongly indicates that engaging in multi‐tasking via digital media does not improve our multi‐tasking performance in other settings – and in fact seems to decrease this cognitive capacity through reducing our ability to ignore incoming distractions. Much of the multi‐tasking investigations so far have been focusing on personal computers. However, smartphone technologies may even further encourage people to engage in media multi‐tasking through high rates of incoming prompts from emails, direct messages and social media notifications occurring while both using and not using the device. Thus, along with determining long‐term consequences of media multi‐tasking, future research should examine how the constant multi‐tasking made possible by Internet‐enabled mobile devices may impact daily functioning through acute but high frequency effects.

Furthermore, both the immediate and chronic effects of media multi‐tasking are relatively unexplored in children and adolescents, who are the prime users of such technologies 33 and are at a phase of development that is crucial for refining higher cognitive abilities 14 . The first longitudinal study of media multi‐tasking in young people has recently found that frequent multi‐tasking behaviours do predict the development of attentional deficits specifically in early adolescents, but not in older teens 34 . Additionally, extensive media multi‐tasking during childhood and adolescence could also negatively impact cognitive development through indirect means, by reducing engagement with academic and social activities, as well as by interfering with sleep 35 , or reducing the opportunity to engage in creative thinking 36 , 37 . Clearly, further research is necessary to properly measure the effects of ubiquitous computing on children's cognitive development, and to find practical ways for ameliorating any detrimental impact this may be having.

“iFORMATION”: NEUROCOGNITIVE RESPONSES TO ONLINE INFORMATION GATHERING

The internet and transactive memory.

In response to the question “How has the Internet changed your life?” , some common answers include finding new friends, renewing old friendships, studying online, finding romantic relationships, furthering career opportunities, shopping, and travel 38 . However, the most common answer is people stating that the Internet has “changed the way in which they access information” 38 . Indeed, for the first time in human history, the majority of people living in the developed world have access to almost all factual information in existence literally at their fingertips.

Along with the obvious advantages, this unique situation also introduces the possibility of the Internet ultimately negating or replacing the need for certain human memory systems – particularly for aspects of “semantic memory” (i.e., memory of facts) – which are somewhat independent from other types of memory in the human brain 39 . An initial indication of Internet information gathering affecting typical memory processes was provided by Sparrow et al 40 , who demonstrated that the ability to access information online caused people to become more likely to remember where these facts could be retrieved rather than the facts themselves, indicating that people quickly become reliant on the Internet for information retrieval.

It could be argued that this is not unique to the Internet, but rather just an example of the online world acting as a form of external memory or “transactive memory” 40 , 41 . Transactive memory has been an integral part of human societies for millennia, and refers to the process by which people opt to outsource information to other individuals within their families, communities, etc., such that they are able to just remember the source of the knowledge, rather than attempting to store all of this information themselves 41 . Although beneficial at a group level, using transactive memory systems does reduce an individual's ability to recall the specifics of the externally stored information 42 . This may be due to individuals using transactive memory for “cognitive offloading” , implicitly reducing their allocation of cognitive resources towards remembering this information, since they know this will be available for future reference externally. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in multiple contexts, including those of team work 43 and other “non‐Internet” technologies (e.g., photography reducing individuals’ memories of the objects they photographed) 44 .

However, it is becoming clear that the Internet actually presents something entirely novel and distinct from previous transactive memory systems 45 , 46 . Crucially, the Internet seems to bypass the “transactional” aspect that is inherent to other forms of cognitive offloading in two ways. First, the Internet does not place any responsibility on the user to retain unique information for others to draw upon (as would typically be required in human societies) 45 . Second, unlike other transactive memory stores, the Internet acts as a single entity that is responsible for holding and retrieving virtually all factual information, and thus does not require individuals to remember what exact information is externally stored, or even where it is located. In this way, the Internet is becoming a “supernormal stimulus” 46 for transactive memory – making all other options for cognitive offloading (including books, friends, community) become redundant, as they are outcompeted by the novel capabilities for external information storage and retrieval made possible by the Internet.

How does a supernormal stimulus interact with normal cognition?

Unfortunately, the rapid methods of acquisition and constant availability of information afforded by the Internet may not necessarily lead to better use of information gained. For instance, an experimental study 47 found that individuals instructed to search for specific information online completed the information gathering task faster than those using printed encyclopedias, but were subsequently less able to recall the information accurately.

During Internet and encyclopedia information gathering tasks, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine activation in the ventral and dorsal streams. These regions are referred to as the “what” and “where” streams, respectively, due to their indicated roles in storing either the specific content (ventral stream) or external location (dorsal stream) of incoming information 47 . Although there was no difference in activation of the dorsal stream, results showed that the poorer recall of Internet‐sought information compared to encyclopedia‐based learning was associated with reduced activation of the ventral (“what”) stream during online information gathering. These findings further support the possibility, initially raised by Sparrow et al 40 , that online information gathering, while faster, may fail to sufficiently recruit brain regions for storing information on a long‐term basis.

The potential for online searching to produce a sustained impact upon our cognitive processes has been investigated in a series of studies examining pre‐post changes following a six‐day Internet search training paradigm. In these studies, young adults were given an hour per day of Internet search tasks, and undertook an array of cognitive and neuroimaging assessments pre‐ and post‐training. Results showed that the six‐day Internet search training reduced regional homogeneity and functional connectivity of brain areas involved in long‐term memory formation and retrieval (e.g., temporal gyrus) 48 . This indicates that a reliance on online searching may impede memory retrieval by reducing the functional connectivity and synchronization of associated brain regions 48 . Furthermore, when faced with new questions after the six days, the training had increased participants’ self‐reported impulses towards using the Internet to answer those questions, which was reflected in a recruitment of prefrontal brain areas required for behavioural and impulse control 49 . This increased propensity for relying on Internet searches for gathering new information has been replicated in subsequent studies 50 , and is in keeping with the “supernormal stimulus” nature of the Internet, potentially suggesting that online information gathering quickly trains people to become dependent on this tool when faced with unknown issues.

However, despite the possible adverse effects on regular “offline” memory, the six‐days training did make people more efficient at using the Internet for retrieving information, as participants became faster at the search tasks, with no loss of accuracy 51 . Search training also produced increases in white matter integrity of the fiber tracts connecting the frontal, occipital, parietal and temporal lobes, significantly more than the non‐search control condition 52 . In other studies, cognitive offloading via digital devices has also been found to improve people's ability to focus on aspects that are not immediately retrievable, and thus remember these better in the future 53 .

These findings seem to support the emergent hypotheses that relying on the Internet for factual memory storage may actually produce cognitive benefit in other areas, perhaps by “freeing up” cognitive resources 54 , and thus enabling us to use our newly available cognitive capacities for more ambitious undertakings than previously possible 45 . Researchers advocating this view have pointed to multiple domains of collective human endeavor that have already been transformed by the Internet's provision of supernormal transactive memory, such as education, journalism and even academia 55 . As online technologies continue to advance (particularly with regards to “wearables”), it is conceivable that the performance benefits from the Internet, which are already visible at the societal level, could ultimately become integrated within individuals themselves, enabling new heights of cognitive function 56 .

Unfortunately, however, a more sobering finding with regards to the immediate possibility of ubiquitous Internet access enabling new heights of human intelligence is provided by Barr et al 57 , who observed that analytical thinkers, with higher cognitive capacities, actually use their smartphone less for transactive memory in day‐to‐day situations compared to individuals with non‐analytical thinking styles. Furthermore, the reduced smartphone usage in analytical versus non‐analytical thinkers was specific to online information searching, with no differences in social media or entertainment usages, thus indicating that the differences are likely due to the Internet furthering “cognitive miserliness” among less analytical thinkers 57 .

Alongside this, the increasing reliance on the Internet for information may cause individuals to “blur the lines” between their own capabilities and their devices’ 58 . In a series of experiments, Fisher et al 59 investigated how the Internet influences our self‐perceived knowledge. Results showed that online searching increases our sense of how much we know, even though the illusion of self‐knowledge is only perceived for the domains in which the Internet can “fill in the gaps” for us. The experiments also demonstrated how quickly individuals internalized the Internet's external knowledge as their own – as even immediately after using the Internet to answer the task questions, participants attributed their higher quality explanations to “increased brain activity” . More recent studies have shown that illusions of self‐knowledge similarly persist when using smartphones to retrieve online information 58 . As individuals become more and more connected with their personal digital devices (which are also always accessible), it seems inevitable that the distinction between self and Internet's abilities will become increasingly elusive, potentially creating a constant illusion of “greater than actual knowledge” among large portions of the population.

Overall, the Internet clearly can provide a “superstimulus” for transactive memory, which is already changing the way we store, retrieve, and even value knowledge. However, with popular online information sources such as Google and Wikipedia less than 20 years old, it is currently not possible to ascertain how this may eventually be reflected in long‐term changes to the structure and function of the human brain. Nonetheless, our constant connection with the online world through personal devices (i.e., smartphones), along with the emerging potential for more direct integration through wearable devices, certainly indicates that we are set to become more reliant on the Internet for factual information as time goes on. Also, whereas the studies described above have focused on factual knowledge, the Internet is also now becoming a superstimulus for spatial information (through providing constant access to online maps and global positioning system). As spatial memory is somewhat independent from semantic memory in the human brain 60 , further research should investigate the multitude of ways in which extensive use of these external memory systems may reduce, enhance or alter our cognitive capacities.

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS: FAULTY CONNECTIONS, OR FALSE DICHOTOMY?

Human sociality in the online world.

Social relationships and having a sense of connection are important determinants of happiness and stress relief 61 , 62 , mental and physical well‐being 63 , 64 , and even mortality 65 . Over the past decade, the proportion of an individual's social interactions that take place online within social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) has grown dramatically 66 , 67 , and our connection with these sites is now strongly meshed with the offline world. The real‐world implications of this are perhaps best evidenced by the critical role that social media have played in multiple global affairs, including reportedly starting and precipitating the London Riots, the Occupy movement 68 , and even the Arab Spring 69 , along with potentially influencing the outcomes of the UK's European Union Referendum (“Brexit”) 70 and the 2016 US elections 71 . Clearly, understanding the shift from real‐world interactions into the online social environment (and vice versa) holds significance to almost all aspects of people's lives.

Our motivations towards using social media is broadly similar to the instinctual desires underlying “real world” social interactions, as people are drawn to online sociality in order to exchange information and ideas, along with gaining social support and friendships 72 . However, whether or not these virtual interactions engage the human brain in ways analogous to real‐world socialization remains a topic of debate since the turn of the century 73 . Whereas it would be highly beneficial if social media sites could fulfil the implicit human needs for social connection, it may be that the distinction between online and offline networks is so great that entirely different cognitive domains are involved in navigating these different environments 74 , 75 .

How does the online environment affect our fundamental social structures?

To investigate the neuroimaging correlates of offline and online networks, the seminal study by Kanai et al 74 collected real‐world social network size, online sociality (i.e., Facebook friends) and magnetic resonance imaging scans from 125 participants. Results showed that both real‐world social network size and number of Facebook friends were significantly associated with amygdala volume. As this has previously been established as a key brain region for social cognition and social network size 76 , these results present a strong case for the overlap between online and offline sociality in the human brain.

However, those authors also found that the grey matter volume of other brain regions (specifically, posterior regions of the middle temporal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus, and the right entorhinal cortex) were predicted by the numbers of participants’ Facebook friends, but held no relationship to their real‐world social networks. This suggests that certain unique aspects of social media implicate aspects of the brain that are not central in “real‐world” social settings. For instance, the tendency for online networks to encourage us towards holding many weak social connections, involving thousands of face‐to‐name pairs, could require high associative memory capacities, which is not typically required in real‐world networks (as these are comprised of fewer, but more familiar, relationships) 74 . As associative memory formation for name‐face pairs involves the right entorhinal cortex 77 , 78 , this could explain the exclusive relationship that this region holds with online social (but not real‐world) network size 74 .

Indeed, one key difference which may separate how the brain handles online and offline social networks is the unique capacity afforded by the Internet for people to hold, and simultaneously interact with, millions of “friendships” 79 , 80 . Empirical testing of this hypothesis is a most fruitful area of investigation stemming from research into the fundamental similarities and differences between these two social worlds at a biological level 66 . When defining “friendships” under a broad context (people who maintain contact and share an emotional bond) 66 , two patterns are prominent across a diverse range of real‐world social networks: a) the average individual has around 150 “friendships” (but this is highly variable between individuals), and b) this is made up of five hierarchical layers, consisting of primary partners, intimate relationships, best friends, close friends, and all friends, which follow a size‐scaling ratio of around 3 (i.e., each cumulative layer is 3 times bigger than the last), and therefore have set average (cumulative/inclusive) sizes of 1.5, 5, 15, 50 and 150 respectively 66 . The patterns of the average number of 150 total friendship connections, and the scaling sizes of the five hierarchical layers of relationships making this up, have been found across regions and time periods within various human organizations, ranging from hunter‐gatherer societies 81 , 82 and historical village populations 83 , armies 66 , residential camps 84 , to personal networks of modern Europeans 85 .

Thus, given the unprecedented potential that online social networks allow in terms of number of connections, and the varied contexts these take place over 79 , 80 , it is imaginable that this extraordinary environment may allow these two apparently set aspects of real‐world social networks to be bypassed. However, recent findings have confirmed that user‐to‐user friendship connections, posting patterns and exchanges within Twitter, Facebook, and even online gaming platforms, all indicate a similar average number of general friendships (around 150, despite high skew), along with maintaining the same scaled sizes of the hierarchical structure of the five distinct friendship layers (as determined by reciprocal communication exchanges) 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 . Therefore, even within the unique realms of online social networks, the most fundamental operations of human social networks appear to remain relatively unchanged 88 , 89 . So, it is highly conceivable that the social connections formed in the online world are processed in similar ways to those of the offline world, and thus have much potential to carry over from the Internet to shape “real‐world” sociality, including our social interactions and our perceptions of social hierarchies, in ways that are not restricted to the context of the Internet.

The driving forces that sustain the set structural patterns of social networks, even when faced with the immense connective potential of the online world, may be broadly explained by two overlapping mechanisms. First, constraints on social cognition within the human brain seem to carry over across social contexts 66 . For instance, humans struggle to engagingly interact with more than three individuals simultaneously in the real world, and this limitation on attention also appears to apply online 90 , 91 . This evidence is in agreement with the hypothesis that circumventing the cognitive constraints on social relationships may be difficult even when technology affords unnatural opportunities to do so 88 .

The second driver of set boundaries on social activity is that simple underlying factors may produce social constraints, even within online settings. Most obviously, investment in social relationships is limited by time constraints, and this may contribute to the set patterns of both the number and type of social connections 93 , 94 . In line with this, analyses across various social contexts have shown that temporal limitations govern the number of social interactions that individuals engage in, and how they distribute these across their different kinds of relationships 93 , 94 . Again, these general interaction rates remain similar within online social networks 87 , 88 .

The possibility that the parameters on all social networks (online or offline) are governed by basic underlying factors is further supported by research showing that similar structures also exist within simpler social systems, such as animal societies 66 , 95 . For instance, the sizes and scaling of hierarchical “friendship” layers found in online and offline human networks are also found in dolphins, elephants, and various primate species 96 , and the phenomena of humans increasing the number and strength of their social networks connections following the death of a friend on Facebook 97 is also seen in wild birds, which show compensatory up‐regulation of their social network connections upon experiencing the loss of a social associate 98 .

Supporting the idea that limited cognitive capacities govern our social structures is research showing that the brain regions predicting individual variation in social network size in humans also do so for macaques 99 . Strong support for simple underlying factors (such as time) governing our general patterning of social interactions can be found in studies demonstrating that entirely computationally simulated systems replicate some of the apparent complexities of human social networks, even under relatively simple rules 100 , 101 . Examples include agent‐based models generating similar social layering structures as humans when sociality is defined as time‐limited 100 .

In light of the current evidence regarding how the Internet may have affected human thinking surrounding social networks, it is undeniable that the online environment poses unique potential and context for social activity 79 , 80 , 102 , 103 , which may invoke some non‐identical cognitive processes and brain areas in comparison to the offline world 74 , 75 . Nevertheless, aside from these comparatively fine‐scale differences, it appears that our brains process the online and offline social networks in surprisingly similar ways, as demonstrated by the shared cognitive capacities and simple underlying factors ultimately governing their fundamental structure 87 , 88 . As such, the online social world has very significant implications for not only measuring and understanding human sociality, but also for governing the outcomes of social processes across various aspects of life.

Social cognitive responses to the online social world

Given the evidence above, an appropriate metaphor for the relationship between online and real‐world sociality could be a “new playing field for the same game” . Even beyond the fundamental structure, emerging research suggests that neurocognitive responses to online social occurrences are similar to those of real‐life interactions. For instance, being rejected online has been shown to increase activity in brain regions strongly linked with social cognition and real‐world rejection (medial prefrontal cortex 104 ) in both adults and children 105 , 106 , 107 . However, within the “same old game” of human sociality, online social media is bending some of the rules – potentially at the expense of users 17 . For instance, whereas real‐world acceptance and rejection is often ambiguous and open to self‐interpretation, social media platforms directly quantify our social success (or failure), by providing clear metrics in the form of “friends” , “followers” , and “likes” (or the potentially painful loss/absence of these) 107 . Given the addictive nature of this immediate, self‐defining feedback, social media companies may even capitalize upon this to maximally engage users 17 . However, growing evidence indicates that relying on online feedback for self‐esteem can have adverse effects on young people, particularly those with low social‐emotional well‐being, due to high rates of cyberbullying 108 , increased anxiety and depression 109 , 110 , and increased perceptions of social isolation and exclusion among those who feel rejected online 111 .

Another process common to human social behaviour in both online and offline worlds is the tendency to make upward social comparisons 112 , 113 . Whereas these can be adaptive and beneficial under regular environmental conditions 112 , this implicit cognitive process can also be hijacked by the artificial environmental manufactured on social media 113 , 114 , which showcases hyper‐successful individuals constantly putting their best foot forward, and even using digital manipulation of images to inflate physical attractiveness. By facilitating exposure to these drastically upward social comparisons (which would rarely be encountered in everyday life), online social media can produce unrealistic expectations of oneself – leading to poor body image and negative self‐concept, particularly for younger people 107 , 111 , 115 , 116 . For instance, in adolescents (particularly females), those who spent more time on social media and smartphones have a greater prevalence of mental health problems, including depression, than those who spent more time on “non‐screen” activities 116 , with greater than 5 hrs/day (versus 1 hr/day) associated with a 66% increased risk of one suicide‐related outcome 117 .

However, a causal relationship between high levels of social media use and poorer mental health is currently difficult to establish, as there is most likely a complex interaction between several confounding factors, including reduced sleep and in‐person social interaction, and increased sedentary behaviour and perceived loneliness 116 , 118 . Nonetheless, given the large amounts of social media use observed among young people, future research should thoroughly examine the potentially detrimental effects that this new setting for sociality may have on health and well‐being, along with aiming to establish the driving factors – such that adjustments can be made in subsequent iterations of social media in order to produce more positive outcomes.

Whereas young people with mental disorders may be the most vulnerable to negative input from social media, these media may also present a new platform for improving mental health in this population, if used correctly. In future, social media may also be exploited to promote ongoing engagement with Internet‐based interventions, while addressing key (but frequently neglected) targets such as social connectedness, social support and self‐efficacy, to aim to bring about sustained functional improvements in severe and complex mental health conditions 119 . To achieve these goals, online social media‐based interventions need to be designed to promote engagement by harnessing, in an ethical and transparent manner, effective strategies used by the industry. For instance, developing technologies which are increasingly adopted by online marketing and tech companies, such as natural language processing, sentiment analyses and machine learning, could be capitalized upon, for example making it possible to identify those at increased risk for suicide or relapse 120 , and rationalizing human driven support to those who need it most at the time they need it 121 . In addition, online systems will be able to learn from what helps individuals and when, opening a window into personalized, real time interventions 121 .

While the use of online social media‐based interventions is in its infancy, pioneering efforts indicate that these interventions are safe, engaging, and have the potential to improve clinical and social outcomes in both patients and their relatives 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 , 127 . That said, online interventions have failed up to now to be adopted by mental health services 128 , 129 . The main reasons include high attrition rates, poor study designs which reduce translational potential, and a lack of consensus around the required standards of evidence for widespread implementation of Internet‐delivered therapies 130 , 131 , 132 . Efforts are currently underway to determine the long‐term effects of the first generation of social media‐based interventions for mental illness via large randomized controlled trials 133 , 134 . Alongside this clinical use, developing public health strategies for young adults in the general population to avoid the potential adverse effects and negative aspects of typical social media are also warranted.

CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTIONS

As digital technologies become increasingly integrated with everyday life, the Internet is becoming highly proficient at capturing our attention, while producing a global shift in how people gather information, and connect with one another. In this review, we found emerging support for several hypotheses regarding the pathways through which the Internet is influencing our brains and cognitive processes, particularly with regards to: a) the multi‐faceted stream of incoming information encouraging us to engage in attentional‐switching and “multi‐tasking” , rather than sustained focus; b) the ubiquitous and rapid access to online factual information outcompeting previous transactive systems, and potentially even internal memory processes; c) the online social world paralleling “real world” cognitive processes, and becoming meshed with our offline sociality, introducing the possibility for the special properties of social media to impact on “real life” in unforeseen ways.

However, with fewer than 30 years since the Internet became publicly available, the long‐term effects have yet to be established. Within this, it seems particularly important that future research determines the impact of the Internet on us throughout different points in the lifespan. For instance, the Internet's digital distractions and supernormal capacities for cognitive offloading seem to create a non‐ideal environment for the refinement of higher cognitive functions in critical periods of children and adolescents’ brain development. Indeed, the first longitudinal studies on this topic have found that adverse attentional effects of digital multi‐tasking are particularly pronounced in early adolescence (even compared to older teens) 34 , and that higher frequency of Internet use over 3 years in children is linked with decreased verbal intelligence at follow‐up, along with impeded maturation of both grey and white matter regions 135 .

On the other hand, the opposite may be true in older adults experiencing cognitive decline, for whom the online environment may provide a new source of positive cognitive stimulation. For instance, Internet searching engaged more neural circuitry than reading text pages in Internet savvy older adults (aged 55‐76 years) 9 . Furthermore, experimental studies have found that computer games available online and through smartphones can be used to attenuate aging‐related cognitive decline 136 , 137 , 138 . Thus, the Internet may present a novel and accessible platform for adults to maintain cognitive function throughout old age. Building from this, successful cognitive aging has previously been shown to be dependent upon learning and deploying cognitive strategies, which can compensate for aging‐related decline in “raw” memory capacities 139 . This has previously been referred to as optimizing internal cognitive processes (e.g., through mnemonic strategies), or taking advantage of cognitive offloading in traditional formats (list making, transactive memory, etc.) 139 . Nonetheless, as Internet‐based technologies become more deeply integrated with our daily cognitive processing (through smartphones, wearables, etc.), digital natives could feasibly develop forms of “online cognition” in the aging brain, whereby older adults can increasingly take advantage of web‐based transactive memory and other emerging online processes to fulfil (or even exceed) the typical capacities of a younger brain.

Although it is an emerging area of study, the same could apply for social aspects of the online world. Whereas young people seem particularly prone to the rejections, peer pressure, and negative appraisals this world may induce 107 , older adults may ultimately be able to harness social media in order to overcome isolation and thus continue to benefit from the diverse range of physical, mental and neurocognitive benefits associated with social connection 73 . Viewed collectively, the nascent research in this area already indicates that equivalent types of Internet usage may have differential effects on individuals’ cognitive and social functioning depending on their point in the lifespan.

For better or for worse, we are already conducting a mass‐scale experiment of extensive Internet usage across the global population. A more fine‐scale analysis is essential to gaining a fuller understanding of the sustained impact of this usage across our society. This could include measuring frequency, duration and types of Internet usage as a standard part of national data projects, for instance through collecting Internet data (from either device‐based or self‐report measures) in “biobank” assessment protocols. Combining this with the extensive genetic, socio‐demographic, lifestyle and neuroimaging data gathered by some ongoing projects, researchers could be able to establish the impact of Internet usage on psychological well‐being and brain functioning across entire populations (rather than the currently limited study samples), while also controlling for multiple confounders.

Overall, this early phase of the Internet's introduction into our society is a crucial period for commencing rigorous and extensive research into how different types of Internet usage interact with human cognition, in order to maximize our opportunities for harnessing this new tool in a beneficial manner, while minimizing the potentially adverse effects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

J. Firth is supported by a Blackmores Institute Fellowship. J. Sarris is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Research Fellowship (APP1125000). B. Stubbs is supported by the Health Education England and the National Institute for Health Research Integrated Clinical Academic Programme Clinical Lectureship (ICA‐CL‐2017‐03‐001). G.Z. Steiner is supported by an NHMRC‐Australian Research Council (ARC) Dementia Research Development Fellowship (APP1102532). M. Alvarez‐Jimenez is supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (APP1082934). C.J. Armitage is supported by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre and NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the above‐mentioned entities.

Essay on Uses of Internet for Students and Children

500 words essay on uses of internet.

The Internet has become a sensation nowadays. It is something that humans cannot function without anymore. It has occupied a great part of our lives. We use the internet for almost every little and a big task now. It ranges from searching for a job to listening to music.

Essay on Uses of Internet

The Internet has basically made our lives easier and convenient. The world is at our fingertips now, thanks to the internet. When we see how it has changed the scenario of the modern world, we can’t help but notice its importance. It is used in all spheres of life now.

Internet and Communication

The world has become smaller because of the internet. Now we can communicate with our loved ones oceans away. The days of letter writing are gone where we had to wait for weeks to get a reply. Everything is instant now. Even though telephones allowed us to do that, but the cost was too high. The common man could not afford to call people overseas because of the costs.

However, the internet changed that. Communicating with people both near and far is now easy and affordable. We can send them emails and chat with them through instant messaging apps. We may also video call them using the internet which allows us to see them clearly even though we are miles away.

Furthermore, we can now get instant news updates from all over the world. The moment anything takes place anywhere in the world, we get to know about it. In addition, we are informed about the natural calamities within the correct time. Moreover, we can easily contact our job recruiters using the internet. Job application has been made so much easier through the internet.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Internet and Entertainment

Entertainment and the Internet go hand in hand now. Everything is at your fingertips to enjoy. You can book movie tickets easily on the internet. Gone are the days of waiting in long queues to get the ticket for the latest movie. It can all be done through the comfort of your home. Similarly, you can also book match tickets and concert tickets without going through the hassle of standing in long lines.

In addition, we can now do all our shopping online. You won’t have to go out in the harsh weather to shop for stuff. The Internet allows you to browse through a large assortment of products with all the details given. It ranges from something as small as a mug to a laptop, you can have it all. Furthermore, you may also filter the categories to find exactly what you are looking for within seconds.

Nowadays, web series are quite a hit amongst the youth. They do not watch TV anymore; rather they enjoy the web series. Various platforms have created shows which they release on the internet that has a major fan following. You can get your daily dose of entertainment from the internet now. Whether you want to hear the latest music, you don’t have to spend a hefty amount to buy the CD. You can simply listen to it on the internet.

Thus, we see how the internet has changed and made our lives easy in various ways. We can connect with our loved ones easily and get access to unlimited entertainment instantly.

FAQs on Uses of Internet

Q.1 How does the internet help in communicating?

A.1 We can now communicate with our loved ones using the internet. We can video call them and connect with our relatives living overseas.

Q.2 What does internet offer in terms of entertainment?

A.2 Internet offers us various modes of entertainment. We can watch movies and shows online. We can also book tickets and shop for products online.

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The internet and the pandemic, 90% of americans say the internet has been essential or important to them, many made video calls and 40% used technology in new ways. but while tech was a lifeline for some, others faced struggles.

internet help us essay

Pew Research Center has a long history of studying technology adoption trends and the impact of digital technology on society. This report focuses on American adults’ experiences with and attitudes about their internet and technology use during the COVID-19 outbreak. For this analysis, we surveyed 4,623 U.S. adults from April 12-18, 2021. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the  ATP’s methodology .

Chapter 1 of this report includes responses to an open-ended question and the overall report includes a number of quotations to help illustrate themes and add nuance to the survey findings. Quotations may have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity. The first three themes mentioned in each open-ended response, according to a researcher-developed codebook, were coded into categories for analysis. 

Here are the questions used for this report , along with responses, and its methodology .

Technology has been a lifeline for some during the coronavirus outbreak but some have struggled, too

The  coronavirus  has transformed many aspects of Americans’ lives. It  shut down  schools, businesses and workplaces and forced millions to  stay at home  for extended lengths of time. Public health authorities recommended  limits on social contact  to try to contain the spread of the virus, and these profoundly altered the way many worked, learned, connected with loved ones, carried out basic daily tasks, celebrated and mourned. For some, technology played a role in this transformation.  

Results from a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted April 12-18, 2021, reveal the extent to which people’s use of the internet has changed, their views about how helpful technology has been for them and the struggles some have faced. 

The vast majority of adults (90%) say the internet has been at least important to them personally during the pandemic, the survey finds. The share who say it has been  essential  – 58% – is up slightly from 53% in April 2020. There have also been upticks in the shares who say the internet has been essential in the past year among those with a bachelor’s degree or more formal education, adults under 30, and those 65 and older. 

A large majority of Americans (81%) also say they talked with others via video calls at some point since the pandemic’s onset. And for 40% of Americans, digital tools have taken on new relevance: They report they used technology or the internet in ways that were new or different to them. Some also sought upgrades to their service as the pandemic unfolded: 29% of broadband users did something to improve the speed, reliability or quality of their high-speed internet connection at home since the beginning of the outbreak.

Still, tech use has not been an unmitigated boon for everyone. “ Zoom fatigue ” was widely speculated to be a problem in the pandemic, and some Americans report related experiences in the new survey: 40% of those who have ever talked with others via video calls since the beginning of the pandemic say they have felt worn out or fatigued often or sometimes by the time they spend on them. Moreover,  changes in screen time  occurred for  Americans generally  and for  parents of young children . The survey finds that a third of all adults say they tried to cut back on time spent on their smartphone or the internet at some point during the pandemic. In addition, 72% of parents of children in grades K-12 say their kids are spending more time on screens compared with before the outbreak. 1

For many, digital interactions could only do so much as a stand-in for in-person communication. About two-thirds of Americans (68%) say the interactions they would have had in person, but instead had online or over the phone, have generally been useful – but not a replacement for in-person contact. Another 15% say these tools haven’t been of much use in their interactions. Still, 17% report that these digital interactions have been just as good as in-person contact.

About two-thirds say digital interactions have been useful, but not a replacement for in-person contact

Some types of technology have been more helpful than others for Americans. For example, 44% say text messages or group messaging apps have helped them a lot to stay connected with family and friends, 38% say the same about voice calls and 30% say this about video calls. Smaller shares say social media sites (20%) and email (19%) have helped them in this way.

The survey offers a snapshot of Americans’ lives just over one year into the pandemic as they reflected back on what had happened. It is important to note the findings were gathered in April 2021, just before  all U.S. adults became eligible for coronavirus vaccine s. At the time, some states were  beginning to loosen restrictions  on businesses and social encounters. This survey also was fielded before the delta variant  became prominent  in the United States,  raising concerns  about new and  evolving variants . 

Here are some of the key takeaways from the survey.

Americans’ tech experiences in the pandemic are linked to digital divides, tech readiness 

Some Americans’ experiences with technology haven’t been smooth or easy during the pandemic. The digital divides related to  internet use  and  affordability  were highlighted by the pandemic and also emerged in new ways as life moved online.

Beyond that, affordability  remained a persistent concern  for a portion of digital tech users as the pandemic continued – about a quarter of home broadband users (26%) and smartphone owners (24%) said in the April 2021 survey that they worried a lot or some about paying their internet and cellphone bills over the next few months. 

From parents of children facing the “ homework gap ” to Americans struggling to  afford home internet , those with lower incomes have been particularly likely to struggle. At the same time, some of those with higher incomes have been affected as well.

60% of broadband users with lower incomes often or sometimes have connection problems, and 46% are worried at least some about paying for broadband

Affordability and connection problems have hit broadband users with lower incomes especially hard. Nearly half of broadband users with lower incomes, and about a quarter of those with midrange incomes, say that as of April they were at least somewhat worried about paying their internet bill over the next few months. 3 And home broadband users with lower incomes are roughly 20 points more likely to say they often or sometimes experience problems with their connection than those with relatively high incomes. Still, 55% of those with lower incomes say the internet has been essential to them personally in the pandemic.

At the same time, Americans’ levels of formal education are associated with their experiences turning to tech during the pandemic. 

Adults with a bachelor’s, advanced degree more likely than others to make daily video calls, use tech in new ways, consider internet essential amid COVID-19

Those with a bachelor’s or advanced degree are about twice as likely as those with a high school diploma or less formal education to have used tech in new or different ways during the pandemic. There is also roughly a 20 percentage point gap between these two groups in the shares who have made video calls about once a day or more often and who say these calls have helped at least a little to stay connected with family and friends. And 71% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more education say the internet has been essential, compared with 45% of those with a high school diploma or less.

More broadly, not all Americans believe they have key tech skills. In this survey, about a quarter of adults (26%) say they usually need someone else’s help to set up or show them how to use a new computer, smartphone or other electronic device. And one-in-ten report they have little to no confidence in their ability to use these types of devices to do the things they need to do online. This report refers to those who say they experience either or both of these issues as having “lower tech readiness.” Some 30% of adults fall in this category. (A full description of how this group was identified can be found in  Chapter 3. )

‘Tech readiness,’ which is tied to people’s confident and independent use of devices, varies by age

These struggles are particularly acute for older adults, some of whom have had to  learn new tech skills  over the course of the pandemic. Roughly two-thirds of adults 75 and older fall into the group having lower tech readiness – that is, they either have little or no confidence in their ability to use their devices, or generally need help setting up and learning how to use new devices. Some 54% of Americans ages 65 to 74 are also in this group. 

Americans with lower tech readiness have had different experiences with technology during the pandemic. While 82% of the Americans with lower tech readiness say the internet has been at least important to them personally during the pandemic, they are less likely than those with higher tech readiness to say the internet has been essential (39% vs. 66%). Some 21% of those with lower tech readiness say digital interactions haven’t been of much use in standing in for in-person contact, compared with 12% of those with higher tech readiness. 

46% of parents with lower incomes whose children faced school closures say their children had at least one problem related to the ‘homework gap’

As school moved online for many families, parents and their children experienced profound changes. Fully 93% of parents with K-12 children at home say these children had some online instruction during the pandemic. Among these parents, 62% report that online learning has gone very or somewhat well, and 70% say it has been very or somewhat easy for them to help their children use technology for online instruction.

Still, 30% of the parents whose children have had online instruction during the pandemic say it has been very or somewhat difficult for them to help their children use technology or the internet for this. 

Remote learning has been widespread during the pandemic, but children from lower-income households have been particularly likely to face ‘homework gap’

The survey also shows that children from households with lower incomes who faced school closures in the pandemic have been especially likely to encounter tech-related obstacles in completing their schoolwork – a phenomenon contributing to the “ homework gap .”

Overall, about a third (34%) of all parents whose children’s schools closed at some point say their children have encountered at least one of the tech-related issues we asked about amid COVID-19: having to do schoolwork on a cellphone, being unable to complete schoolwork because of lack of computer access at home, or having to use public Wi-Fi to finish schoolwork because there was no reliable connection at home. 

This share is higher among parents with lower incomes whose children’s schools closed. Nearly half (46%) say their children have faced at least one of these issues. Some with higher incomes were affected as well – about three-in-ten (31%) of these parents with midrange incomes say their children faced one or more of these issues, as do about one-in-five of these parents with higher household incomes.

More parents say their screen time rules have become less strict under pandemic than say they’ve become more strict

Prior Center work has documented this “ homework gap ” in other contexts – both  before the coronavirus outbreak  and  near the beginning of the pandemic . In April 2020, for example, parents with lower incomes were particularly likely to think their children would face these struggles amid the outbreak.

Besides issues related to remote schooling, other changes were afoot in families as the pandemic forced many families to shelter in place. For instance, parents’ estimates of their children’s screen time – and family rules around this – changed in some homes. About seven-in-ten parents with children in kindergarten through 12th grade (72%) say their children were spending more time on screens as of the April survey compared with before the outbreak. Some 39% of parents with school-age children say they have become less strict about screen time rules during the outbreak. About one-in-five (18%) say they have become more strict, while 43% have kept screen time rules about the same. 

More adults now favor the idea that schools should provide digital technology to all students during the pandemic than did in April 2020

Americans’ tech struggles related to digital divides gained attention from policymakers and news organizations as the pandemic progressed.

On some policy issues, public attitudes changed over the course of the outbreak – for example, views on what K-12 schools should provide to students shifted. Some 49% now say K-12 schools have a responsibility to provide all students with laptop or tablet computers in order to help them complete their schoolwork during the pandemic, up 12 percentage points from a year ago.

Growing shares across political parties say K-12 schools should give all students computers amid COVID-19

The shares of those who say so have increased for both major political parties over the past year: This view shifted 15 points for Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP, and there was a 9-point increase for Democrats and Democratic leaners.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the government has this responsibility, and within the Republican Party, those with lower incomes are more likely to say this than their counterparts earning more money. 

Video calls and conferencing have been part of everyday life

Americans’ own words provide insight into exactly how their lives changed amid COVID-19. When asked to describe the new or different ways they had used technology, some Americans mention video calls and conferencing facilitating a variety of virtual interactions – including attending events like weddings, family holidays and funerals or transforming where and how they worked. 5 From family calls, shopping for groceries and placing takeout orders online to having telehealth visits with medical professionals or participating in online learning activities, some aspects of life have been virtually transformed: 

“I’ve gone from not even knowing remote programs like Zoom even existed, to using them nearly every day.” – Man, 54

“[I’ve been] h andling … deaths of family and friends remotely, attending and sharing classical music concerts and recitals with other professionals, viewing [my] own church services and Bible classes, shopping. … Basically, [the internet has been] a lifeline.”  – Woman, 69

“I … use Zoom for church youth activities. [I] use Zoom for meetings. I order groceries and takeout food online. We arranged for a ‘digital reception’ for my daughter’s wedding as well as live streaming the event.” – Woman, 44

Among those who have used video calls during the outbreak, 40% feel fatigued or worn out at least sometimes from time spent on these calls

When asked about video calls specifically, half of Americans report they have talked with others in this way at least once a week since the beginning of the outbreak; one-in-five have used these platforms daily. But how often people have experienced this type of digital connectedness varies by age. For example, about a quarter of adults ages 18 to 49 (27%) say they have connected with others on video calls about once a day or more often, compared with 16% of those 50 to 64 and just 7% of those 65 and older. 

Even as video technology became a part of life for users, many  accounts of burnout  surfaced and some speculated that “Zoom fatigue” was setting in as Americans grew weary of this type of screen time. The survey finds that some 40% of those who participated in video calls since the beginning of the pandemic – a third of all Americans – say they feel worn out or fatigued often or sometimes from the time they spend on video calls. About three-quarters of those who have been on these calls several times a day in the pandemic say this.

Fatigue is not limited to frequent users, however: For example, about a third (34%) of those who have made video calls about once a week say they feel worn out at least sometimes.

These are among the main findings from the survey. Other key results include:

Some Americans’ personal lives and social relationships have changed during the pandemic:  Some 36% of Americans say their own personal lives changed in a major way as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Another 47% say their personal lives changed, but only a little bit.   About half (52%) of those who say major change has occurred in their personal lives due to the pandemic also say they have used tech in new ways, compared with about four-in-ten (38%) of those whose personal lives changed a little bit and roughly one-in-five (19%) of those who say their personal lives stayed about the same.

Even as tech helped some to stay connected, a quarter of Americans say they feel less close to close family members now compared with before the pandemic, and about four-in-ten (38%) say the same about friends they know well. Roughly half (53%) say this about casual acquaintances.

The majority of those who tried to sign up for vaccine appointments in the first part of the year went online to do so:  Despite early problems with  vaccine rollout  and  online registration systems , in the April survey tech problems did  not  appear to be major struggles for most adults who had tried to sign up online for COVID-19 vaccines. The survey explored Americans’ experiences getting these vaccine appointments and reveals that in April 57% of adults had tried to sign themselves up and 25% had tried to sign someone else up. Fully 78% of those who tried to sign themselves up and 87% of those who tried to sign others up were online registrants. 

When it comes to difficulties with the online vaccine signup process, 29% of those who had tried to sign up online – 13% of all Americans – say it was very or somewhat difficult to sign themselves up for vaccines at that time. Among five reasons for this that the survey asked about, the most common  major  reason was lack of available appointments, rather than tech-related problems. Adults 65 and older who tried to sign themselves up for the vaccine online were the most likely age group to experience at least some difficulty when they tried to get a vaccine appointment.

Tech struggles and usefulness alike vary by race and ethnicity.  Americans’ experiences also have varied across racial and ethnic groups. For example, Black Americans are more likely than White or Hispanic adults to meet the criteria for having “lower tech readiness.” 6 Among broadband users, Black and Hispanic adults were also more likely than White adults to be worried about paying their bills for their high-speed internet access at home as of April, though the share of Hispanic Americans who say this declined sharply since April 2020. And a majority of Black and Hispanic broadband users say they at least sometimes have experienced problems with their internet connection. 

Still, Black adults and Hispanic adults are more likely than White adults to say various technologies – text messages, voice calls, video calls, social media sites and email – have helped them a lot to stay connected with family and friends amid the pandemic.

Tech has helped some adults under 30 to connect with friends, but tech fatigue also set in for some.  Only about one-in-five adults ages 18 to 29 say they feel closer to friends they know well compared with before the pandemic. This share is twice as high as that among adults 50 and older. Adults under 30 are also more likely than any other age group to say social media sites have helped a lot in staying connected with family and friends (30% say so), and about four-in-ten of those ages 18 to 29 say this about video calls. 

Screen time affected some negatively, however. About six-in-ten adults under 30 (57%) who have ever made video calls in the pandemic say they at least sometimes feel worn out or fatigued from spending time on video calls, and about half (49%) of young adults say they have tried to cut back on time spent on the internet or their smartphone.

  • Throughout this report, “parents” refers to those who said they were the parent or guardian of any children who were enrolled in elementary, middle or high school and who lived in their household at the time of the survey. ↩
  • People with a high-speed internet connection at home also are referred to as “home broadband users” or “broadband users” throughout this report. ↩
  • Family incomes are based on 2019 earnings and adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and for household sizes. Middle income is defined here as two-thirds to double the median annual family income for all panelists on the American Trends Panel. Lower income falls below that range; upper income falls above it. ↩
  • A separate  Center study  also fielded in April 2021 asked Americans what the government is responsible for on a number of topics, but did not mention the coronavirus outbreak. Some 43% of Americans said in that survey that the federal government has a responsibility to provide high-speed internet for all Americans. This was a significant increase from 2019, the last time the Center had asked that more general question, when 28% said the same. ↩
  • Quotations in this report may have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity. ↩
  • There were not enough Asian American respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate analysis. As always, their responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout this report. ↩

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Table of contents, 34% of lower-income home broadband users have had trouble paying for their service amid covid-19, experts say the ‘new normal’ in 2025 will be far more tech-driven, presenting more big challenges, what we’ve learned about americans’ views of technology during the time of covid-19, key findings about americans’ views on covid-19 contact tracing, how americans see digital privacy issues amid the covid-19 outbreak, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

internet help us essay

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Writing about the Internet

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internet help us essay

It is literally impossible to imagine our lives without the Internet today. People work, sell and buy goods, communicate with friends and family, and look for entertainment online. The list of advantages and disadvantages of the Internet is quite long, but the fact that it became an inevitable part of life is doubtless. That is why so many teachers and professors around the world assign their students to write an essay on the Internet.

The range of topics on Internet varies greatly, and you can use your creativity and critical thinking to come up with an original and interesting one. If you are ready to start working on your essay but got lost in various ideas, do not worry! In this article, we will suggest the best topics for your essay about the Internet and share some useful writing tips.

Internet essay topics

Here are some exciting ideas for your consideration:

  • Essay on the Internet and its uses
  • Purpose of the Internet essay
  • Stance about Internet essay
  • The power of Internet essay
  • The evaluation of Internet essay
  • Life before and after the Internet essay
  • Do we underestimate the value of the Internet essay
  • Online services on Internet essay
  • Purchases on Internet essay
  • Reasons for surfing the Internet essay
  • Unlimited access to the Internet essay
  • The bane of the Internet essay
  • Politics and the Internet essay
  • Sexuality and the Internet essay
  • Christianity and the Internet essay
  • Sleep deprivation and use of the Internet essay
  • Essay on uses of the Internet for terrorist activities
  • Essay on role of the Internet in children’s development
  • Essay on importance of the Internet in socialization
  • Essay on uses of Internet in our daily life
  • Essay on life without Internet
  • Advantages of Internet for students essay
  • Unlimited access to Internet: Good or bad essay
  • Merits and demerits of Internet essay
  • Essay on benefits of Internet
  • Essay on influence of Internet on children
  • Pros and cons of Internet essay
  • Uses and misuses of Internet essay
  • Invention of the Internet essay
  • Impact of Internet on society essay
  • Spending too much time on the Internet essay
  • Access to Internet and education essay
  • Importance of internet in education essay
  • Safety measures for surfing Internet essay
  • Privacy on the Internet essay
  • Dangers of the Internet essay
  • Life without internet essay books vs Internet essay
  • Can you make real friends on the Internet essay
  • Positive effects of Internet essay
  • Negative effects of Internet essay
  • Insomnia for using Internet essay
  • Addiction to Internet essay
  • Dependency on Internet essay: Do we rely on it too much?
  • Compare news from television and news from Internet essay
  • Life with Internet essay
  • Imagine a world without Internet essay
  • Making friends through the Internet vs in real life
  • Is it safe to look for love on the Internet essay
  • Can you fall in love over the Internet essay
  • Evils of Internet essay
  • Should the government control the Internet essay
  • Should everyone have access to the Internet essay
  • Future of the Internet essay
  • History of the Internet essay
  • Newspaper vs Internet
  • Library vs Internet essay: What help us study more effectively?

advantages of internet for students essay

Internet essay outline

Outlining is one of the most important stages of essay writing on the Internet. No matter what size of your paper is, neither long nor short essay on the Internet cannot be written well if you do not have a plan to follow. Outline is exactly such a plan. It helps you understand what sections your paper will consist of and what each paragraph will cover. The more research you do – the more details you can include in your outline. However, you should remember that the basis would be:

  • Introduction about Internet essay.

It usually consists of 5-6 short sentences introducing the topic of the essay. The first and the last sentences of each intro part are hook and thesis statement for Internet essay.

  • A perfect hook for Internet essay is a phrase that can immediately interest your reader and engage him or her into reading the paper. In case with Internet essay, you may use some astonishing statistics about Internet use.
  • Before moving to the thesis, you need to add some background information to help the reader understand your topic better. Do not go deep into the history of the issue under consideration – just give a brief overview of it.
  • Your thesis statement has to present the issue you will consider and emphasize its relevance and importance. You can also list the points that you are going to discuss in regards of this issue.
  • Main paragraphs of Internet essay.

This is the biggest part of your paper, where you need to present a lot of factual information. Usually, there are 2-3 paragraphs describing the essence of the issue in a regular essay (but of course, there can be more or less depending on your word limit). Arguments are essential in this section. These are facts, scientific evidence, references to the opinion of scholars, etc., which help you to back up the points you have made in the thesis.

  • Conclusion of Internet essay.

In this part, you draw a general conclusion about the essay topic, summarizing the main points and restating the thesis statement. Here, you can repeat some of the ideas that you have mentioned earlier. However, do not copy them from the previous part of your essay – you will need to rewrite them completely. The closing part is your last opportunity to convince the reader that your reasoning is valid, so end with a strong statement.

merits and demerits of internet essay

Best tips on writing an essay about the Internet

  • Choose a narrow topic. When it comes to the Internet, there are millions of things you can talk about. As it is used in every sphere of our lives, it is hard to think of something that is not connected to it in any way. While a lot of aspects of the World Wide Web might be interesting to you, it is crucial that you focus on a narrow topic, as you likely have only a page or a few to write about it. The more specific the topic is, the better arguments you will be able to present.  
  • Stick to the outline. Once you have received the assignment, determine the type of essay that need to be written and the outline that would suit it. Use bullets to list the sections you are going to include and add brief descriptions to each one so that you can remember the points you were planning to include during the writing process.
  • Be concise. In general, an essay is a short piece of writing. However, some students may think that the more, the better and write huge papers. This is far from being true. If your work is interesting, to the point, and you have not overloaded the text with factual information, it will be much more interesting to read than a 10-page rambling on a topic.   
  • Back up your claims. Each idea you write should be based on certain facts. Back it up with arguments, strong examples, statistics, and other information from credible sources. You should prove in your paper that you know what you are writing about and there is enough research to support it.
  • Mind the formatting style. You will need to ask your professor about the formatting of the essay that you are assigned to write. Some of the most well-known formats that universities around the world ask students to stick to are MLA, APA, and Chicago. However, they are all very different and it’s best to know which one your professor prefers before you start writing.
  • Work on your reference list. When you are writing an A+ essay, you have to know that it’s not enough just to mention one or two references. A good reference list includes three and more sources that you need to cite in your paper to support your ideas. Besides, you also need to make sure that these sources are trustworthy enough (like books or scholarly articles) to be mentioned in your paper.

essay on benefits of internet

Amazing facts about the Internet

The Internet is indeed limitless and versatile. We have collected the most astonishing facts about it for your review:

  • More than 2.4 billion people worldwide use the Internet.
  • Google is the most popular website in the world.
  • If Facebook was a state, then it would be the  country with the 3rd largest population.
  • 75% of emails (281 billion) sent every day are spam.
  • 1 in 8 married couples has met on the Internet.
  • The first video uploaded to YouTube was with the founder of the platform, Javed Karim , who was looking at elephants at the zoo.
  • The Internet is guarded by seven real people. Each of them has a key that allows them to reboot the world network in case of a technological disaster or some other event.
  • The hackers break into about 30 thousand websites per day.
  • According to a study by Statistic Brain, dating websites generate more than a billion dollars of income a year. In the United States, almost 19% of all married couples met online.
  • According to a study by Pew Research, by 2025, the Internet will be considered as a basic human need, the same as electricity and water.
  • The first website in the world was http://info.cern.ch , which was created on August 6, 1991. It consisted of one web page with 153 words.
  • The number of devices connected to the Internet exceeds the number of people on the planet.
  • North Korea is the only country where only government officials and the military have access to the Internet.

All things considered, writing the best Internet essay is not that hard. The most important thing is to find a topic that is really interesting for you and stick to the writing tips presented in this article. All of this, along with a bit of inspiration, will help you to create a really interesting Internet essay. Good luck!

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How Did the Internet Change the Way We Learn?

Education knows no bounds in the digital era. join us as we explore how the internet has transformed learning and empowered knowledge seekers..

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Lyndon Seitz - Editor-in-Chief

Date Modified: December 4, 2023

How Did the Internet Change the Way We Learn?

The Internet, a vast global network interconnecting computers and devices, has become an indispensable part of our daily lives . Its profound influence extends beyond mere convenience, fundamentally reshaping how we acquire knowledge and learn. 

Education, a cornerstone of personal growth and societal progress, relies heavily on access to information, resources, and innovative learning methods. In this article, we will delve into how the Internet has ushered in a transformative era of learning by democratizing access to information, revolutionizing educational resources, and redefining pedagogical approaches. We will explore the statistics and trends that underscore these changes, providing insights into the evolving landscape of education in the digital age.

Access to Information

Internet's impact on access to information

Internet Penetration and Global Connectivity

Recent data illustrates the pervasive impact of the Internet, with a staggering 5.18 billion users worldwide . This figure represents a remarkable 64.6 percent of the global population.

The digital landscape has witnessed a decade of dynamic growth, with a standout year being 2015 when global internet users surged by an impressive 13.9%, according to data from Oberlo . Over the span from 2013 to 2023, the world experienced an astonishing influx of over 2.6 billion new internet users, marking an average annual growth rate of 7.4%.

Increased Availability of Information

The digital age has witnessed a remarkable shift in the realm of knowledge repositories. The Library of Congress, renowned as one of the world's largest libraries, houses 164 million items . In stark contrast, the Internet Archive , a digital preservation powerhouse, boasts an astounding collection, encompassing over 30 million books and texts, 8.9 million movies, videos, TV shows, 649,000 software programs, 13.2 million audio files, 3.8 million images, and a staggering archive of 580 billion web pages within the Wayback Machine, as of April 2021.

Within the vast expanse of the internet, we find a staggering range of digital realms, estimated to number anywhere between 1.5 billion to over 2 billion functional websites . This extraordinary digital landscape houses a wealth of information that transcends the confines of physical libraries.

Impact on Research and Knowledge Acquisition

Google's search engine alone processes over 8.5 billion searches per day , facilitating quick access to information for research purposes.

In May 2014, a notable study titled " The Number of Scholarly Documents on the Public Web " shed light on the expansive digital scholarly landscape. This research indicated that the World Wide Web is host to a vast repository of scholarly documents, predominantly in the English language, numbering an estimated 114 million. Google Scholar, a leading academic search engine, was found to index nearly 100 million of these documents. Furthermore, the study revealed that a substantial portion, approximately 27 million or 24%, were freely accessible, without necessitating any subscription or payment.

Online Education and E-Learning

Internet's impact on online education and e-learning

Growth of Online Education Platforms

Online education platforms have undergone remarkable growth, reshaping the landscape of learning in recent years. The evolution of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offers a striking illustration of this transformation. From 2011 to 2021, the number of learners engaged with MOOCs surged exponentially, ascending from a mere 300,000 to a staggering 220 million.

Moreover, a 2018 study unveiled a significant trend among American students, with over 30% having experienced at least one online course . This statistic underscores the widespread adoption of online learning as a viable educational option . Furthermore, the online learning giant, Coursera, witnessed an extraordinary surge in student registrations in 2021, with a staggering 20 million new students joining its platform .

Flexibility and Convenience

A recent survey conducted by BestColleges delved into the preferences of prospective online students, current online students, remote learners, and online program graduates. Among these respondents, a striking 68% of current online students were juggling their studies with either full-time or part-time employment. 

Furthermore, an overwhelming 95% of them had the added responsibility of caring for children under 18 in their households. These statistics underscore the pivotal role online education plays in accommodating the busy lives of working professionals and parents, providing them with opportunities to further their education without compromising their existing commitments.

Simultaneously, the landscape of learning devices is evolving, with mobile devices emerging as potent tools for education. According to SHIFT E-learning, an impressive 74% of learners have embraced the use of mobile devices for eLearning . This significant shift toward mobile learning not only reflects the adaptability of learners but also highlights the transformative impact of technology on the accessibility and convenience of educational resources.

Personalized Learning Experiences

Adaptive learning technologies have taken center stage, with higher education institutions embracing these data-driven methodologies as progressive means of instruction. This growing interest underscores a shift towards more tailored and responsive educational practices, marking a departure from traditional one-size-fits-all approaches.

Crucially, personalized learning has demonstrated its potential to yield substantial positive impacts. Early evidence suggests that personalized learning interventions can enhance student achievement , irrespective of their initial proficiency levels. Importantly, these benefits may not always be immediately apparent; instead, they may unfold over time as educators and institutions refine their personalized learning strategies. Analytical insights further suggest that the effects of personalized learning tend to become more pronounced as educational institutions gain experience in implementing these dynamic approaches .

Digital Skills Development

Internet's impact on digital skills and development

Internet's Role in Skill Acquisition

The digital era has ushered in a profound transformation in how individuals acquire and enhance their skills, driven by the evolving demands of the job market and the accessibility of online resources .

Demand for Digital Skills

The job market's hunger for digital skills is evident. In 2019, a Job Market Monitor study found that more than 8 in 10 middle-skill jobs (82%) mandated digital skills—a 4% increase since 2014. This surge underscores the integral role of digital proficiency in contemporary employment.

Online Learning's Ascendance

Online tutorials and courses have emerged as the primary avenues for skill development. Notably, in March on LinkedIn Learning , there was a remarkable 46% surge in the time spent learning by enterprise learners compared to February, translating to an additional 750,000 learning hours. To put this into perspective, it equates to 86 years of watching the entire Game of Thrones series approximately 11,800 times . This data showcases the rapid uptake of online learning as the preferred medium for upskilling and knowledge acquisition.

Access to Coding and Programming Resources

The landscape of coding education is marked by impressive growth. Notably, in the United States, the coding bootcamp market exhibited robust expansion, with a market size valued at $399.91 million in 2018 . Projections indicate that this market is poised to further burgeon, expected to reach an estimated $889.37 million by 2026.

The allure of coding-related professions is undeniable. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals a compelling forecast—the overall employment of software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers is projected to surge by 25% from 2022 to 2032 . This growth trajectory significantly outpaces the average for all occupations, underscoring the pivotal role of coding skills in our digitally driven-future.

Importance of Digital Literacy in the 21st Century

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital literacy, countries such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and most recently, the United States, have firmly anchored digital literacy at the core of their digital economy strategies. This strategic move, initiated back in 2010 , signifies a collective recognition of the pivotal role digital literacy plays in shaping not only individual prospects but the broader economic and societal landscape.

The profound impact of digital literacy ripples through various facets of society. Improved digital literacy has emerged as a linchpin, bolstering employability, catalyzing economic growth, and nurturing civic engagement. According to an analysis conducted by the National Skills Coalition, a staggering 92% of jobs now necessitate at least basic digital skills .

Collaborative Learning and Online Communities

Internet's impact on collaborative learning and online communities

Online Forums and Communities

In the expansive landscape of online discourse, a vibrant tapestry of discussion boards and forums thrives, encapsulating a multitude of subjects and interests. A striking illustration of this phenomenon is found in Reddit, where recent data from MarketSplash reveals an astonishing 3.1 million subreddits .

Successful online communities for learning include platforms like Stack Exchange and GitHub. Stack Exchange, exemplified by Stack Overflow, offers a valuable resource for individuals seeking prompt answers to their inquiries. Comprising 173 Q&A communities , with Stack Overflow at the forefront, these platforms collectively attract over 100 million monthly visitors , fostering a dynamic environment for learning and sharing technical knowledge.

GitHub, on the other hand, serves as an essential hub for developers, promoting collaboration and innovation within the coding community. GitHub's reach is staggering, boasting an impressive 100 million developers and an extensive repository count exceeding 372 million, with at least 28 million being publicly accessible.

Social Learning and Peer Interaction

The integration of social media platforms into education is on the rise. Recent data reveals that 41% of teachers in various educational institutions are incorporating social media into their teaching methods, reflecting a changing landscape in the classroom. Furthermore, a remarkable 90% of college students worldwide have embraced social media as a crucial academic resource, underlining its pervasive influence on modern learning experiences, both within and beyond traditional educational settings.

Peer-to-peer learning offers numerous benefits. Research indicates that peer interaction and collaboration can lead to a deeper understanding of content , increased motivation, and improved problem-solving skills. For instance, a study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that peer-led team learning led to significantly higher exam scores and student retention rates.

Global Collaboration and Cultural Exchange

The landscape of international collaboration in education is undergoing a noteworthy transformation. The landscape of international collaboration in education is experiencing a remarkable transformation, exemplified by the surge in cross-border initiatives aimed at facilitating global knowledge exchange.

One standout illustration of this phenomenon is the Erasmus+ program , a powerful catalyst for international cooperation in education. This initiative has attracted participation from over 4,000 higher education institutions spanning 37 countries. Such widespread involvement underscores the program's remarkable success in transcending geographical boundaries and fostering educational collaborations on a global scale. Additionally, it's noteworthy that more than 9 million individuals have had the opportunity to participate in the Erasmus program since its inception.

Collaborations across borders bear substantial implications for cultural understanding and diversity. As exemplified by the experiences of program alumni from SIT, these initiatives yield profound effects. An insightful study revealed that an impressive 72% of participants attested to the significant influence of their study-abroad experiences on their career choices and employment prospects.

Challenges and Concerns

Digital divide.

Access to the internet continues to be a pressing global concern, with substantial disparities persisting across regions. In 2021, the International Telecommunication Union reported that nearly 47% of the world's population remained without internet access , reflecting significant regional discrepancies. 

Notably, large emerging economies such as Russia, Turkey, Malaysia, China, and Brazil showcased relatively higher internet penetration rates , ranging from 60% to 72%. However, the digital divide looms larger in less affluent nations, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, where internet usage rates were notably lower, with figures like 39% in Nigeria, 30% in Indonesia, and 22% in India.

Information Overload

Navigating the vast sea of online information presents a formidable challenge in the digital age. This challenge is exemplified by the sheer volume of digital data, which surged to 64.2 zettabytes globally in 2020 , as reported by Statista.

Dealing with information overload is a pervasive concern that affects individuals across age groups. A 2021 survey conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sheds light on this issue, revealing that children as young as 8 years old consume an average of 4 hours and 28 minutes of media per day. By the age of 12, this number escalates to a staggering 8 hours and 14 minutes daily. Furthermore, for each additional year of age, individuals are exposed to nearly an additional hour of media consumption.

Quality Control and Misinformation

  • Misinformation is a prevalent issue online, even in educational contexts. According to a study by Stanford University, 82% of middle school students couldn't distinguish between a credible news article and a sponsored content piece.
  • Institutions and individuals are taking proactive steps to combat misinformation in education. For instance, fact-checking organizations have gained prominence, with websites like Snopes and PolitiFact receiving millions of monthly visitors

The Bottom Line

The Internet has undeniably reshaped the landscape of education in profound ways. We have witnessed how it has democratized access to information, bridged geographical divides through online learning platforms, and fostered collaborative knowledge sharing through online communities. However, this transformative journey is not without its challenges.

To thrive in this digital era of learning, individuals must prioritize digital literacy skills . The ability to critically evaluate online content, discern credible sources, and navigate the vast information landscape is essential. It is the foundation upon which informed decision-making and meaningful learning experiences are built.

As we move forward, it is paramount that we embrace the opportunities presented by the Internet in education while remaining vigilant about its challenges. We must foster a culture of responsible online learning, where learners are equipped not only with technical skills but also with the critical thinking capabilities to navigate the complexities of the digital realm. By doing so, we can harness the Internet's transformative potential to empower learners, educators, and society as a whole, ensuring that the benefits of digital education are accessible to all.

Are online courses as effective as traditional ones?

Online courses can be just as effective as traditional ones when designed well. Their effectiveness depends on factors like course quality, learner engagement, and the individual's ability to self-regulate their learning.

How can educators combat misinformation in online education?

Educators can teach critical thinking skills, encourage fact-checking, and promote the use of reliable sources. Incorporating media literacy into curricula can help students navigate the digital world more effectively.

What is the future of education with the Internet?

The future of education will likely involve a blend of traditional and online learning. Innovations like AI-driven personalized learning, virtual reality, and global collaboration will continue to shape education in the digital age.

How can I enhance my digital literacy skills?

You can enhance your digital literacy by taking online courses, staying informed about online safety practices, and practicing critical thinking when consuming digital content.

What are some recommended online resources for digital literacy and online learning?

There are many resources available, including MOOC platforms like Coursera and edX, online courses on LinkedIn Learning, and digital literacy tutorials from organizations like Mozilla and Common Sense Media.

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Become a Writer Today

Essays About The Internet: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

Are you writing essays about the internet? Then, read our guide, including interesting essay examples and writing prompts to get you started. 

The internet is a vast network of billions of computers connecting people virtually worldwide. When you connect to the internet or go online, you can access loads of information and communicate with people from millions of miles away.

The internet has presented groundbreaking benefits to society, such as global, real-time communication, more accessible access to information, and more source of leisure. However, when in the wrong hands, the internet can be a dangerous neighborhood that bustles with criminal opportunities for thieves, stalkers, and murderers.

For inspiration in writing an article about the internet, read our round-up of thought-provoking essay examples and prompts. 

1. Forty Years Of The Internet: How The World Changed Forever by Oliver Burkeman

2. who owns the internet by elizabeth kolbert, 3. a nation of echo chambers: how the internet closed off the world by will leitch, 4. the rise of memes in the internet world by lennlee keep, 5. how to fight lies, tricks and chaos online by adi robertson, 10 writing prompts on essays about the internet, 1. the internet’s benefits to students, 2. dangers of the internet on the youth, 3. how the internet changed how we date, 4. how the internet revolutionized business, 5. safeguarding your privacy online, 6. effects of internet slang on literacy, 7. are bloggers replacing journalists, 8. the internet of things, 9. metaverse: the future of the internet, 10. creating communities online.

“It’s impossible to say for certain when the internet began, mainly because nobody can agree on what, precisely, the internet is. (This is only partly a philosophical question: it is also a matter of egos since several of the people who made key contributions are anxious to claim the credit.”

Burkeman treads the history of the internet through the lens of those who claim to have contributed to its development and arrival on the tech scene. His nostalgic journey interestingly shows how the internet emerged glacially slow, heading toward the dotcom boom not until decades after a successful computer communication experiment initially intended to establish US defense. You might also be interested in these essays about computers .

“The Internet revolution has, indeed, sent heads rolling, as legions of bookstore owners, music critics, and cirrhotic editors can attest. Instead of becoming more egalitarian, the country has become less so: the gap between America’s rich and poor grows ever wider.”

Once envisioned to democratize power to the people, the Internet disappoints as it continues to concentrate power on a few, deepening inequality with graver concerns, such as piracy and fake news.

“We now only have to interact with people who agree with us; if I use Twitter as my primary news source, as so many people do, I can carefully curate my feed to exclude anyone who disagrees with me about anything. (And if someone who slips in there who does, I can call them a horrible person.).”

The essay laments how the internet has isolated us into our echo chambers, leaving our beliefs unchallenged and stripped of world-proven facts on matters as evident as vaccination. Furthermore, because we addictively feed into the positive validation of people who share our opinions, it becomes easy to demonize those who don’t. As such, our society deals with more conspiracy theory believers and spreaders. 

“The internet is still in some ways the Wild West, and putting your meme and your art out in the world requires a certain amount of faith in humanity, diligence and maybe a good rights attorney on retainer.”

An integral part of social media, memes may not mean what we know them to be in the internet age. Instead, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins contends that memes are cultural ideas and customs passed on if worthy of being “meme”-icked. If we go by this definition, memes could date back to early civilizations and even be found in the animal kingdom.

“This kind of viral half-truth is part of the fabric of today’s internet, and the kind of anger it inspired has been turned into a dangerous commodity. It’s cynically exploited by businesses for ad-supported “fake news,” by scammers raising money online, and by authoritarian governments to spread hate and fear.”

The widespread falsehoods being peddled over the internet requires netizens’ heightened vigilance. But Robertson recognizes the struggle always to be vigilant, drawing up a list of practical techniques everyone can use to combat fake news. 

Essays About the Internet: The internet’s benefits to students

Share your insights and experience on how the internet has expanded your knowledge in a subject matter and helped you complete your academic papers. In addition, you can compare these perks against the difficulties students and researchers had to endure before the birth of the internet. 

Anyone can be a victim on the internet, but kids are most vulnerable to cyberattacks and offenses. So first, cite the most common concerns kids can encounter while surfing online. A few examples you can include are cyberbullying, phishing, predators, and scams. Next, offer kids and parents some helpful safety tips to avoid falling prey to these online traps. 

Critics hate the internet for making dating among the youth an easy game that heavily emphasizes sexual and physical attractions. Do you agree with them? Discuss your feelings on this point. You can also look into how the internet has strengthened relationships, especially long-distance ones, through communication.

In your essay, take a deep dive into how e-commerce has forever changed how we do business, from how we market our products to the skills of employees now sought. Then, lay down the risks and opportunities in e-commerce. Finally, provide expert tips on how businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, can be competitive by conquering the risks online while optimizing profits through the opportunities of a digitally borderless world. 

Privacy is a contentious issue over the internet. Laws on privacy have turned more complex and become doubly challenging to enforce. In this prompt, hammer down the essence of maintaining privacy on the internet. Then, taking off from privacy experts’ recommendations, offer your audience critical steps to ensure they protect their private space and their data when online.

Internet slang is an evolving language created for people to communicate online easily. It has drawn extensive debates on its effects on the future of language and literacy. In your essay, write your insights on internet slang’s negative and positive effects on shaping students’ linguistic views and skills. If you’re a linguistics geek, you might also be interested in discovering how different languages created their internet lingos.

Can blogging meet journalistic standards and be a reliable source of truth? Journalists do not think so, but some contend that blogging is a form of citizen journalism that can legitimately put light on different angles of an event or situation. Answer this question yourself through your essay and dig deeper into the pros and cons of blogs as a source of news. 

The Internet of Things (IoT) — the interconnectivity of devices made possible by the internet — is poised to be the next most significant technological advancement. When writing this essay, explain what part IOT can play in redefining the future. Then, cite its potential real-world applications and how it can revolutionize industries. 

Write about the metaverse and its promises of raising the online experience to the next level. Talk about what your readers can expect and what activities they can do once they enter the metaverse. Then, consider tackling the technologies making the metaverse a reality and the cost of “living” in this virtual space. You may also go so far as to mull over the potential problems the metaverse poses, such as promoting an improved alternate world to escape from reality. 

One of the most significant social benefits of the internet is finding new friends who share the same interests. We can engage with them directly or through forum discussions that strengthen our knowledge of our interests. For this essay, write about online groups and communities you are part of and share how these are helping you learn more while also challenging you to think more deeply to develop your insights and analysis. Want your essay to leave a good, lasting impression on your readers? Check this guide on how to write an argumentative essay . If you’re still choosing an essay topic, read our essay guides on social media and technology .

internet help us essay

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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  • Internet Paragraph

Internet Paragraph - Check Samples for 100, 150, 200, 250 Words

In the 21st century, the internet is no more a luxury; it has rather become a basic necessity for our living. It is now used by school-going children, college students, working men and women, homemakers, elders, etc. We all are dependent on the internet, and the first basic amenity we search for in every house is an internet connection. It is now needed in every sector and in every home. It builds a network between every corner of the world. Even if you are bored or lonely, you get a thousand reasons not to feel bored with the internet.

This article provides you with various sample paragraphs on the internet. Check them out.

Table of Contents

Paragraph on internet in 100 words, paragraph on internet in 150 words, paragraph on internet in 200 words, paragraph on internet in 250 words, frequently asked questions on internet paragraph.

The internet is the most recent man-made creation that connects the world. The world has narrowed down after the invention of the internet. It has demolished all boundaries, which were the barriers between people and has made everything accessible. The internet is helpful to us in different ways. It is beneficial for sharing information with people in any corner of the world. It is also used in schools, government and private offices, and other public spaces. We stay connected to our close ones and share all the recent and live news with the help of the internet. Sitting in our homes, we know about all that’s happening around the world with a click or a swipe. The internet gives an answer to almost every question and touches every aspect of our lives.

The internet is the most creative and interactive innovation globally. It is the most helpful technology to share information from one part to the other part of the world. We are just a click away from knowing about the whole world. After the invention of the internet, it feels as if the world has narrowed down, and we are no more away from our close ones. Because of the internet, all official work and education could continue even during the pandemic. Without the internet, it would have been impossible to run the large multinational corporations of the world during the pandemic. It is now difficult to do any task without access to the internet in today’s world. Some machines cannot function without an internet connection, and in today’s world, even aeroplanes have an internet connection. Both students and teachers require access to the internet in the educational sector. It can thus be said that we are all fully reliant on the internet. Everyone’s life has been easier, smoother, and more connected as a result of the internet.

The internet is the world’s most innovative and engaging innovation. It is the most beneficial technology for sharing knowledge from one part of the world to another. After using the internet, it appears that the globe has shrunk in size and that everyone lives close to us. We can know what is happening all around the world in a matter of seconds if we are sitting in one corner of the planet. Today, 90% of work is handled online or with the use of the internet, and that helped us to survive through the pandemic. Whether to study, play games, or watch a movie, we can rely on the internet. If someone is writing about any given topic but is not sure about the same, you need to just click, and you get all the relevant information. Looking into the growing demand and utility of the internet, the government has also provided free internet connections in public areas like railway stations, workplaces, parks, etc. Even though we have become completely dependent on the internet, we must be very careful not to overuse and also take care that children don’t get addicted to it.

The internet is a platform for sharing information. It’s the quickest way to exchange data. The information might move thousands of kilometres via the internet. It’s a great way to share knowledge. Images, files, music, and films could be shared. Computers, laptops, and mobile phones are used to access the internet. Everything has become a lot more accessible and cost-saving. Emails and text possibilities have been offered as the most energising technique of correspondence on the web. We can send emails to every corner of the globe, and the cost of sending a message is extremely low, which is the most convenient method of communication. Along with sharing information, the internet collects information regarding any topic from various websites. The issues may include medicines, science, arts, architecture, etc., with no boundaries. It has made lives easier for students, working professionals, and people sitting at home. Almost all businesses are run online today. We all are dependent on the internet, but at the same time, it is also addictive in nature. Excess of anything is harmful; similarly, excessive internet use is also detrimental. The Internet is used through our computers, phones, tablets, etc. There is a high chance that kids might get addicted to the internet, and therefore, it is essential to keep an eye on the kids. Nowadays, it is impossible to pass school life without the use of the internet, but at the same time, we must also be a little careful when our children overuse it.

What is the importance of a paragraph on the Internet?

The internet has become a necessity and not a luxury anymore. Starting from a school-going child to an older adult sitting at home, we all need the internet for something or the other. By some means, we are dependent on the internet.

What is the important information needed to add in the paragraph on the internet?

You can add information like the importance of the internet in our daily life, its practical use in our daily lives and professional lives, etc.

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internet help us essay

Example prompts to try with Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat

Experience the power of Get started with Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat  (formerly named Microsoft 365 Chat). See how much time you can save and how much more you can get done. Use Microsoft Copilot to catch up, create content, and ask questions. This article provides several example prompts you can try.

Tip:  When you’re giving Copilot instructions, you can direct it to specific work content by using the forward slash key (“/”), then typing the name of a file, person, or meeting.  If you write a prompt and don’t reference a specific file, person, or meeting, Copilot will determine the best source of data for its response, including all your work content.

Synthesize large amounts of data into simple, consumable responses and catch up on things quickly. Here are some examples:

You've been on vacation now you're back. You need to find out what's going on with Project X. Find the latest about Project X. What's the current timeline? When are deliverables due?

You've just joined a new team and you're trying to ramp up on recent activities. Summarize team communications over the last 30 days. What are the team's priorities? 

There's been a recent change in how your team is tracking work. Find information about the new way our team is tracking work. Include email communications and points of contact for questions.

Create content

Brainstorm ideas and draft new content based on information at work. Here are some examples:

You want to draft a one-page description of a new project (let's call it Project Foo) that's just about to kick off at work. Using information in file1, file2, and file3, write a one-page description of Project Foo. Write it so non-technical people can understand what the project is about and when it's scheduled to be completed.

You're preparing an email to invite customers to attend an upcoming conference and visit your company's booth. Using information in Document Z, write a fun, catchy email inviting our customers to come see us at our booth during next month's conference.

You want to plan a morale event for your team. List 3-5 ideas for group activities in the Seattle area that would be suitable for my team. Include approximate cost and time estimates. 

Ask questions

Find information and get answers quickly, even if you can't remember where the information you need is or how it was shared. Here are some examples:

You need to know what's left in the budget for supplies. How much did we spend on supplies for Project Foo?  How much budget do we have left for Project Foo?

Your team received customer feedback. You want to identify the top things your team should address. Review the feedback we received from customers via email last week. What are the top three issues we should address?

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A Legal Showdown on the Border Between the U.S. and Texas: What to Know

A court in Austin heard oral arguments in the federal government’s bid to block Texas from imposing a wide-ranging new immigration law.

Officers in Border Patrol uniforms talk to several people standing near a large border wall.

By J. David Goodman

Reporting from Austin

The Biden administration is suing the State of Texas over a new state law that would empower state and local police officers to arrest migrants who cross from Mexico without authorization.

On Thursday, a federal court in Austin heard three hours of arguments over whether to halt the implementation of the law, which is set to go into effect on March 5.

The case has far-reaching implications for the future of immigration law and border enforcement and has been closely watched across the country. It comes amid fierce political fighting between the parties — and within them — over how to handle illegal immigration and follows the impeachment by House Republicans of the secretary of homeland security , and the failure of a bipartisan Senate deal to bolster security at the border.

Texas has argued that its law is necessary to deter migrants from crossing illegally, as has happened in record numbers over the past year. The Biden administration argues that the law conflicts with federal law and violates the U.S. Constitution, which gives the federal government authority over immigration matters.

The judge hearing the case, David A. Ezra of the Western District of Texas, was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan. He had frequent questions, particularly when the lawyer representing the Texas attorney general was speaking, and appeared skeptical of the law.

“Let’s say for the purpose of argument that I agree with you,” Judge Ezra told the state’s lawyer, Ryan Walters. California might then want to pass its own immigration and deportation law, he said. Maybe then Maine would follow, he added, and then other states.

“That turns us from the United States of America into a confederation of states,” Judge Ezra said. “What a nightmare.”

What does the Texas law say?

The law passed by the Texas Legislature, known as Senate Bill 4 , makes it a crime to cross into Texas from a foreign country anywhere other than a legal port of entry, usually the international bridges from Mexico.

Under the law, known as S.B. 4, any migrant seen by the police wading across the Rio Grande could be arrested and charged in state court with a misdemeanor on the first offense. A second offense would be a felony. After being arrested, migrants could be ordered during the court process to return to Mexico or face prosecution if they don’t agree to go.

Texas lawmakers said they had designed S.B. 4 to closely follow federal law, which already bars illegal entry. The new law effectively allows state law enforcement officers all over Texas to conduct what until now has been the U.S. Border Patrol’s work.

It allows for migrants to be prosecuted for the new offense up to two years after they cross into Texas.

How does it challenge federal immigration authority?

Lawyers for the Biden administration argue that the Texas law conflicts with numerous federal laws passed by Congress that provide for a process for handling immigration proceedings and deportations.

The administration says the law interferes with the federal government’s foreign diplomacy role, pointing to complaints already lodged against Texas’ border actions by the government of Mexico. The Mexican authorities said they “rejected” any legislation that would allow the state or local authorities to send migrants, most of whom are not Mexican, back over the border to Mexico.

The fight over the law is likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, legal experts have said . If so, it will give the 6-to-3 conservative majority a chance to revisit a 2012 case stemming from Arizona’s attempt to take on immigration enforcement responsibilities. That case, Arizona v United States, was narrowly decided in favor of the power of the federal government to set immigration policy.

Immigrant organizations, civil rights advocates and some Texas Democrats have criticized the law because it could make it more difficult for migrants being persecuted in their home countries to seek asylum, and it does not protect legitimate asylum seekers from prosecution in state courts.

Critics have also said that the law could lead to racial profiling because it allows law enforcement officers even far from the border to arrest anyone they suspect of having entered illegally in the previous two years. The result, they warn, could lead to improper traffic stops and arrests of anyone who looks Hispanic.

Wait, didn’t the Supreme Court already rule against Texas?

Not in this case.

Texas and the Biden administration have been battling for months over immigration enforcement on several legal fronts.

One case involves the placement by Texas of a 1,000-foot barrier of buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande, which Gov. Greg Abbott said would deter crossings. The federal government sued, arguing that the barrier violated a federal law over navigable rivers. In December, a federal appeals court sided with the Biden administration, ordering Texas to remove the barrier from the middle of the river while the case moved forward.

A second case involves Border Patrol agents’ cutting or removing of concertina wire — installed by the Texas authorities on the banks of the Rio Grande — in cases where agents need to assist migrants in the river or detain people who have crossed the border. The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit claiming that Border Patrol agents who removed the wire were destroying state property.

It was a fight over an injunction in that case that reached the Supreme Court on an emergency application. The justices, without giving their reasons, sided with the Biden administration , allowing border agents to cut or remove the wire when they need to while further arguments are heard in the case at the lower court level.

Why the stakes are higher now

Unlike the other cases, the battle over S.B. 4 involves a direct challenge by Texas to what courts and legal experts have said has been the federal government’s unique role: arresting, detaining and possibly deporting migrants at the nation’s borders.

“This will be a momentous decision,” said Fatma E. Marouf, a law professor and director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the Texas A&M University School of Law. “If they uphold this law, it will be a whole new world. It’s hard to imagine what Texas couldn’t do, if this were allowed.”

The federal government is seeking an injunction to prevent the law from going into effect next month.

“S.B. 4 is clearly invalid under settled precedent,” said Brian Boynton, who presented the Justice Department’s case.

“There is nothing in S.B. 4 that affords people the rights they have under federal law,” he said, later adding that the law would interfere with foreign affairs and the actions of the Department of Homeland Security.

Lawyers for Texas argued that the new law would not conflict with existing federal law. “This is complementary legislation,” said Mr. Walters, a lawyer for the state.

But Judge Ezra expressed concern that the law did not allow a judge to pause a prosecution for illegally entering Texas in the case of someone applying for asylum, calling that provision of the Texas law “troublesome” and “very problematic.”

“It just slaps the federal immigration law in the face,” he said.

Texas argued that the record number of migrant arrivals at the Texas border constituted an “invasion” that Texas had the power to defend itself against under Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits states from engaging in war on their own “unless actually invaded.”

The state has cited the same constitutional provision in the other pending cases between Texas and the federal government. But legal experts said the argument was a novel one.

And Judge Ezra appeared unconvinced on Thursday, as he had been when the same argument was presented last year in the buoy barrier case, which he decided in favor of the federal government .

“I do not see any evidence that Texas is at war,” he said on Thursday.

Before adjourning, the judge turned to Mr. Walters, the Texas lawyer, and said that he would work quickly to issue his decision so that if the state wanted to appeal before March 5, “you can.” He then turned to the federal government’s lawyers and added: “Either of you.”

J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma. More about J. David Goodman

IMAGES

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  1. Essay on Importance of Internet in 150, 200, 300 Words

    Nov 23, 2023 5 minute read Internet is not just a need or luxury, it has become a household necessity. It was used as a source of entertainment but now it is impossible to work in offices or study without the Internet. When the global pandemic locked everyone in their house, it became an important medium to connect, study and work.

  2. How the Internet Has Changed Everyday Life

    Time 15 to read What Happened? The Internet has turned our existence upside down. It has revolutionized communications, to the extent that it is now our preferred medium of everyday communication. In almost everything we do, we use the Internet.

  3. 14 Ways the Internet Improves Our Lives

    March 1, 2022 Advocacy, General The internet is a near ubiquitous aspect of modern life — making it easy to take for granted all the skills, tools, opportunities, and benefits that it provides.

  4. A for and against essay about the internet

    internet essay Give it 1/5 Give it 2/5 Give it 3/5 Give it 4/5 Give it 5/5 Average: 3.8 (16 votes) Personal online tutoring EnglishScore Tutors is the British Council's one-to-one tutoring platform for 13- to 17-year-olds. Find out more Look at the essay and do the exercises to improve your writing skills.

  5. The Internet Will Help Society Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic

    According to the FCC, as of 2018, 21 million Americans and a quarter of US households with children under 8 years old have no access at all to high-speed Internet; 12 million children in the US are affected by the homework gap, and 18% of students currently lack Internet access at home.

  6. The Impact of the Internet on Society: A Global Perspective

    For instance, media often report that intense use of the Internet increases the risk of alienation, isolation, depression, and withdrawal from society. In fact, available evidence shows that there is either no relationship or a positive cumulative relationship between the Internet use and the intensity of sociability.

  7. 4. The internet will continue to make life better

    The internet will continue to make life better. A large share of respondents predict enormous potential for improved quality of life over the next 50 years for most individuals thanks to internet connectivity, although many said the benefits of a wired world are not likely to be evenly distributed.

  8. 1. How the internet and technology shaped Americans' personal

    As is the case with digital divides in internet use and tech adoption in general, those with more formal education and higher incomes are more likely to have had new or different experiences with tech in the pandemic. For example, 56% of those with at least a bachelor's degree say they have used technology in ways new or different to them, compared with 37% of those with some college ...

  9. The Internet and Daily Life

    85% say the Internet is a good way to communicate or interact with others. 75% say the Internet is a good place to conduct everyday transactions. 69% say the Internet is a good way to entertain themselves in everyday life. Throughout this report, we present percentages of "Internet users who do an activity online.".

  10. COVID-19 has taught us the internet is critical and needs public

    April 29, 2020 4 min read Read more from TechTank Follow the authors Center The COVID-19 pandemic has graphically illustrated the importance of digital networks and service platforms.

  11. Does the Internet Make You More

    In a recent Pew Internet survey, 13 percent of cell owners said that they've pretended to be using their phone in order to avoid interacting with the people around them. I'm assuming the other 87% ...

  12. The Internet and Education

    (Bush and Dawson 2013) Beyond such hyperbole, the implications of the Internet for education and learning can be understood in at least four distinct ways. First, is the potential of the Internet to offer individual learners increased freedom from the physical limitations of the real world.

  13. 4 ways the internet can help change the world

    Education combined with the knowledge that the internet brings to boost their potential dramatically. 2. BRIDGE THE INTERNET ADOPTION GAP: In the poorest the internet costs more in real terms than in Europe or the US - 70 percent of people cannot afford a basic broadband plan. We need to cut costs, make sure that we develop content that is ...

  14. How the Internet Affects Societies

    The Internet in the developing world. An Internet Society survey of 2,100 people across the world has found that people in developing markets remain optimistic that the benefits of connecting far outweigh the perceived risks. On the contrary, in the Western hemisphere, conversations about the Internet risk losing the sense of genuine excitement ...

  15. The "online brain": how the Internet may be changing our cognition

    The impact of the Internet across multiple aspects of modern society is clear. However, the influence that it may have on our brain structure and functioning remains a central topic of investigation. Here we draw on recent psychological, psychiatric and neuroimaging findings to examine several key hypotheses on how the Internet may be changing ...

  16. Essay on Uses of Internet for Students and Children

    500 Words Essay on Uses of Internet The Internet has become a sensation nowadays. It is something that humans cannot function without anymore. It has occupied a great part of our lives. We use the internet for almost every little and a big task now. It ranges from searching for a job to listening to music.

  17. The Internet and the Pandemic

    Results from a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted April 12-18, 2021, reveal the extent to which people's use of the internet has changed, their views about how helpful technology has been for them and the struggles some have faced. The vast majority of adults (90%) say the internet has been at least important to them ...

  18. Essay About The Internet: Tips For Every Student

    30th Jul 2020 It is literally impossible to imagine our lives without the Internet today. People work, sell and buy goods, communicate with friends and family, and look for entertainment online. The list of advantages and disadvantages of the Internet is quite long, but the fact that it became an inevitable part of life is doubtless.

  19. Essay on Internet Uses For Students For Students In English

    Look for the points mentioned below. The internet has helped reduce the usage of paper and paperwork to a large extent by computerising offices, schools, NGOs, industries and much more. Internet helps to provide updated information and news from all over the world Education, business and travel have been thriving with the growth of the Internet

  20. How Did the Internet Change the Way We Learn?

    Date Modified: December 4, 2023. The Internet, a vast global network interconnecting computers and devices, has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Its profound influence extends beyond mere convenience, fundamentally reshaping how we acquire knowledge and learn. Education, a cornerstone of personal growth and societal progress ...

  21. Essays About The Internet: Top 5 Examples And Prompts

    Are you writing essays about the internet? Then, read our guide, including interesting essay examples and writing prompts to get you started. The internet is a vast network of billions of computers connecting people virtually worldwide.

  22. Internet Paragraph

    Paragraph on Internet in 100 Words. The internet is the most recent man-made creation that connects the world. The world has narrowed down after the invention of the internet. It has demolished all boundaries, which were the barriers between people and has made everything accessible. The internet is helpful to us in different ways.

  23. Example prompts to try with Microsoft Copilot with Graph-grounded chat

    Tip: When you're giving Copilot instructions, you can direct it to specific work content by using the forward slash key ("/"), then typing the name of a file, person, or meeting. If you write a prompt and don't reference a specific file, person, or meeting, Copilot will determine the best source of data for its response, including all your work content.

  24. A Legal Showdown on the Border Between the U.S. and Texas: What to Know

    Texas lawmakers said they had designed S.B. 4 to closely follow federal law, which already bars illegal entry. The new law effectively allows state law enforcement officers all over Texas to ...