The Internet is no longer only a part of our life, but it has become our entire life. Every activity we do is online, starting with communicating with others through Facebook and WhatsApp, and even working and building projects.
Although it is not necessary to know exactly what the Internet is or how it works to use it, this knowledge will give us a very great advantage and power to understand more deeply what is happening around us.
In this short and simplified guide, I will provide you with everything you need to know about the Internet, from its statistics and history, to how it works, and the most important terms related to it.
Now let's start our very important and interesting topic as well.
What exactly is the internet?
The Internet is simply a network like any computer network, but it is a rather large network with more than 21 billion devices connected around the world, according to a statistic in the year 2020, imagine how many devices are connected to it now!
It is the huge infrastructure in which all people around the world connect, through which they communicate with each other, send files and emails, watch their favorite movies, and even monitor their health.
As within the huge web that you are reading this article through, there are many other networks that connect individuals, companies, organizations and governments.
But imagine with me the vast size of the Internet that we can access, it constitutes only 5 or 6 percent of the Internet, and the rest needs powers and other tools to access it.
In order for you to understand me, you can imagine the World Wide Web as an onion plant consisting of several layers, specifically 3 layers: the first that we will focus on is the Surface Web, the second is the Deep Web, and the third is the Dark Web.
Here are some important points about the Internet:
1. The Internet is a decentralized network, meaning no one controls it, and any computer can enter this network.
2. Any group of computers can create their own network, and they can connect to the parent network, the Internet, or not, as desired. So we can call the Internet as a network of networks or Network of Networks.
3. In fact, the Internet can be used by many types of devices, not just traditional computers. Therefore, the concept of the Internet of Things recently emerged, which enables any device to enter the network and connect it with other devices in one private network.
4. The Internet operates according to a set of protocols, the most famous of which are IP, TCP, FTP, which is a set of laws and rules according to which the Internet operates, and each device connected to the network must agree to it.
5. Every device that connects to the Internet must have a private, non-duplicate IP ADDRESS, through which the process of flow and data sharing between devices is organized without confusion or confusion, and this is one of the most important Internet protocols.
6. The web in its current development is similar to the World Wide Web, as it is a huge group of threads (wires) connected together.
And the destruction of part of this network does not mean the failure of the whole system, because the communication process here will take other paths around the destroyed part in order to reach its desired goal.
Important stats about the Internet
The size and usage of the web is very large, so imagine that in one minute, according to Statista's statistic for the year 2021:
- 69 million messages are sent on Messenger and WhatsApp.
- 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube.
- 197.8 million emails are sent worldwide.
- $1.6 billion worth of products and services are purchased online.
- 695,000 stories are shared on Instagram.
- 28,000 people watch their favorite works on Netflix.
These and other numbers assure us that the Internet is so huge, it has become so huge that even our human minds can't comprehend it.
And all this leads us to the question of how exactly does the Internet work?
How does the internet work?
The Internet, like any network, consists of two main parts:
The first part: Hardware, which is any device connected to the Internet such as your computer, mobile phone and other routers, servers, communication towers and satellites.
Part Two: Protocols, which are the rules that govern the work of the web, such as IP, TCP, HTTP and FTP, which you have certainly heard of or seen their names while browsing the Internet.
To understand exactly how the Internet works, imagine that the Internet is a traditional post office, you go to it and give it a message to pass on to someone far away from you.
To be able to send the message, and to reach the right person, you must write your address and the address of the person you want the message to reach.
This address in the Internet is called the Internet Protocol or the IP, which is a unique number for each device on the Internet, similar to the unique address of the device.
But it is not so simple because your letter will not be taken from the mailbox and sent to the addressee immediately, as it will go to your post office first, then enter the national postal network, and then go to the post office of the addressee and after that you arrive.
This is exactly what happens on the World Wide Web, but the post office in this case is called the ISP or Internet Service Provider and it is the service provider you are connected to.
Usually there is more than one service provider, for example, you are connected to the router in your home, the router is connected to your home cabin and the cabin is connected to the area exchange, the area exchange is connected to the public central, and the public central is connected to the main service provider.
The primary service provider may be WE in Egypt, STC in Saudi Arabia, AT&T in the United States, or others depending on where you live.
This service provider is connected to the backbone of the Internet, which connects all data centers in the world.
For example, in the case of the Internet, when you enter a site, this request is sent through all these intermediaries until it reaches the data center or the hosting where the site is stored, and then the site data returns to you to find it opens on your web browser (and all this happens in fractions of a second ).
Of course, this is a very simplification, as there are many protocols that are used other than IP, for example, there is the DNS that you use when entering sites, and there is TCP and others, but we have tried to explain to you how the Internet works in the simplest possible way and without complexity.
Internet history (stages of development)
Necessity is the mother of invention, and there is no motive for invention more than fear. The most important example of this is the invention of the Internet. The Internet was invented during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
After the Soviet Union launched the first satellite "Sputnik" into space, the United States became concerned, and so it began to invest heavily in the technology sector under an agency called ARPA.
In the 1950s, this agency created computer networks, which were then called ARPANET, which later evolved to include many other devices and networks.
The year 1990 came and the World Wide Web was invented, which is the means through which we access the web since then.
Thus, the net is not an invention of one person, but rather a very long series of inventions that stretched from the fifties in the last century to the present day.
The Internet also does not belong to anyone, but to everyone. If you understand this article well, you will realize that the Internet is nothing but the sum of the devices owned by every person in this world.
Internet Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Internet?
The Internet is a large network that brings together all the networks and devices in the world, and works through a number of protocols that control the communication of these devices with each other.
The Internet often refers to the Surface Web, but there are two other Internet layers, the Dark Web and the Deep Web.
2. How big is the internet?
The Internet is so huge that it consists of all the devices in the world, which number in the tens of billions.
It also consists of all the cables, servers and data centers located around the world, so its size is very huge and almost unimaginable.
3. How did the internet start?
The Internet began as a government network used by the United States to transfer data between large computers in the 1950s and 1960s.
And then this network began to merge with many other networks until the invention of the World Wide Web (WWW), which made it easier for the public to access the Internet.
4. What is the Internet Center?
There is no center for the Internet, it is a collection of devices scattered around the world that communicate with each other through wires and protocols.
Therefore, we can say that every device connected to the Internet can be the center of the Internet, yes even your device through which you are reading the article.
5. What is the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW)?
There are many who confuse the Internet with the Web, and use the two terms to express the same thing. But in fact, the concept of the Internet is more general and older than the concept of the Web, or to say that the Web falls under the Internet.
The Internet is the network that brings together billions of devices around the world, while the World Wide Web (WWW) is the medium or way we access and navigate the Internet.
We can simplify and say that the Internet is the ocean, while the World Wide Web, the WWW, is the ship on which we navigate the ocean.
6. What is IPS?
An IPS or Internet Provider Service is an Internet service provider, and the companies responsible for delivering the Internet service to customers are usually large, leading telecom companies or government-affiliated companies.
These companies are responsible for the infrastructure of the Internet, and act as the mother network in each country, to which the people of this country are connected.
7. Who invented the internet?
There is no single inventor of the Internet, but rather a long line of inventors and inventions that led to the existence of the Internet as we know it.
Dozens of scientists and researchers throughout history have contributed to the Internet as we currently know and use it in all aspects of our lives.
But if I were any names, we can say that the two who invented the Internet were Vint Cerf and Robert E. Kahn in 1970 when they created the first Internet network for the US Department of Defense.
Which was called ARPANET for Advanced Research Project Agency Network, and this was the seed of the Internet.
8. Who controls the Internet?
No one controls the internet and no one has a button that can stop it around the world, we can all control it however we want.
But you may have more powers if you are an IPS provider where you can control clients, but global control of the Internet is impossible.
9. How does the internet work?
The Internet works like any other small network that transmits data between its component devices using a number of protocols.
But in the case of the Internet, there are many devices connected to each other, in addition to the presence of many complex protocols.
Conclusion
The Internet is indispensable to any aspect of our lives, as we use it on a daily basis for everything from communication and entertainment to work.
The Internet has become a part of our daily lives and most of our time today has become in one way or another connected to the Internet and present on it.
You must be logged in to post a comment.