Startling Internet Statistics – Your Brain on the Web
Welcome back!
As of 2009, a mind-boggling estimated quarter of Earth’s population uses the Internet. With a guesstimated number of internet users being 1.67 billion as of June 30, 2009, you may find it surprising to know that only a mere 10% of mobile users surf the Internet for information. Over 6 million people use blogs or message boards as a means of communication and for the sharing of ideas. So how are you and the rest of the world spending your time on the Net?
Visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet from
‘The Opte Project.’ Photo Matt Britt
To gain a real perspective on how internet usage and time is spent, the following infographic helps to visually explain some startling statistics on the matter:
Your Brain On the Internet – Psychological Effects
There has been a great deal of study of the effect of the internet on the human brain, or, ‘your brain on the Internet.’
Far left, Steve Pinker, photo Donna Coveney. Center, Nicholas Carr June 17, 2008, photo Sander Duivestein. Far right, J. C. R. Licklider, inventor of the Web, photo author unknown.
Nicholas Carr, an author on technology, business, and culture, contends that the internet reduces the deep thinking that leads to true creativity. Carr claims that hyperlinks and overstimulation means that the brain must give most of its attention to short-term decisions, and that the internet overwhelms the brain and hurts long-term memory. He states that the great deal of stimuluses on the internet leads to a very large cognitive load, which makes it difficult to remember anything.
But psychologist Steven Pinker argues otherwise. He points out that people have control over what they do, and that research and reasoning never came naturally to people. He states, “Experience does not revamp the basic information-processing capacities of the brain” and avows that the Internet is actually making people smarter.
Origins of the Internet
The origins of the Internet date back to the 1960′s when the U.S. funded research projects of its military agencies to build robust, fault-tolerant and distributed computer networks. This research and a period of civilian funding spawned worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies and led to the commercialization of an international network in the mid 1990′s. This resulted in the popularization of a myriad of applications in virtually every aspect of modern human life.
This NeXT Computer was used by Sir Tim Berners-Lee at CERN and became the world’s first Web server. The document resting on the keyboard is a copy of “Information Management: A Proposal,” Berners-Lee’s original proposal for the World Wide Web. The label on the cube itself reads: “This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!” Just below the keyboard (not shown) is a label which reads: “At the end of the 80s, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web using this Next computer as the first Web server.” Photo Coolcaesar
The USSR’s launch of Sputnik spurred the United States to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA or DARPA) in February 1958 to regain a technological lead. ARPA created the Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) to further the research of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) program, which had networked country-wide radar systems together for the first time.
The IPTO’s purpose was to find ways to address the US Military’s concern about survivability of their communications networks, and as a first step interconnect their computers at the Pentagon, Cheyenne Mountain, and SAC HQ.
J. C. R. Licklider, a promoter of universal networking, was selected to head the IPTO. He served on a committee at MIT that established Lincoln Laboratory and worked on the SAGE project. In 1957 he became a Vice President at BBN, where he bought the first production PDP-1 computer and conducted the first public demonstration of time-sharing.
Although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for nearly 20 years, the network did not gain a public face until the 1990′s. On August 6, 1991, CERN, a pan European organization for particle research, publicized the new World Wide Web project.
The Web was invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. An early popular web browser was ViolaWWW, patterned after HyperCard and built using the X Window System. It was eventually replaced in popularity by the Mosaic web browser. In 1993, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois released version 1.0 of Mosaic, and by late 1994 there was growing public interest in the previously academic, technical Internet.
During the 1990′s, the Internet successfully accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks. Over the course of the decade, it was estimated that the Internet grew by 100% every year, with a brief period of explosive growth in 1996 and 1997.
Graph of Internet users per 100 inhabitants between 1997 and 2007 by International Telecommunication Union. Image Kozuch
Internet and the Web
Usage of the word ‘Internet’ had become commonplace by 1996, as well as its use as a synecdoche in reference to the World Wide Web.
The terms ‘Internet’ and ‘World Wide Web’ are often used in everyday speech without much distinction, but they are not one and the same. The Internet is a global data communications system — a hardware and software infrastructure that provides connectivity between computers. The Web is one of the services communicated via the Internet — a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URL’s.
Sources: Online MBA and Wikipedia
Tags:internet Net Web World Wide Web
The statistics of internet users are amazing. I am sure it will increase drastic in the coming future. Almost all the literates using internet for shopping, paying bills, updating news and to connect with family and friends.
wow, this is an amazing statistic, it is not impossible 10 or 20 years in coming, everything just online, even go to the schools, doesn’t need to the school. This is the power of internet
Wow, some very interesting statistics. At the rate its currently going, I expect it to continue rising in the future.
year. i agree with you .the internet users must be more and more .
What a cool article and the comparison for brain storage and google indexing. The internet is constantly getting larger. And whats that pop singer coming out and saying the internet is becoming old technology? has anyone heard this? Can’t remember who it was.
Number 5 was an eye opener, the fact that teenagers are spending 2 hours a week watching adult content is definitely a fact parents should pay close attention to. Many parents who don’t see their children doing something will most likely assume that their children are not doing it, but these statistics show that people’s children are definitely visiting these types of sites.
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Wow I think that it good idea
It’s incredible to think about the power the internet has over our lives and these statistics prove it. I hate to think about what could happen if the internet ever stopped working. Of course, in twenty years time there could be some new, even better technology that none of us saw coming and the internet could just be for old people who are stuck in their ways.
Haha — this post is eye opening. Truly amazing.
Sweet info graph! The 31 hrs a week spent on the internet (and particularly) what teenagers are doing with their time is amazing.. How accurate do you think these stats are? 31 hours is like a full time job!
Your graphics really helped me truly get my head around the vast reach of the internet. The stat that completely took me by surprise was the how high the American blogger percentage was compared to the other countries. Thanks for sharing this information.
But a life on the internet is a life lost. Gone on holiday for two weeks without a handphone or internet access and you will have the most uplifting and liberating sensation.
Good, I agree with your point of view, thanks for your sharing！
Young people grow up, they will spend two hours a week watching an adult content, this is a normal phenomenon
Sweet advice graph! The 31 hrs a anniversary spent on the internet (and particularly) what teenagers are accomplishing with their time is amazing.. How authentic do you anticipate these stats are? 31 hours is like a abounding time job!
excellent!thanks for your sharing