Internet

Definition 

A means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers. When two computers are connected over the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and computer programs.
No one owns Internet, although several organizations the world over collaborate in its functioning and development. The high-speed, fiber-optic cables (called backbones) through which the bulk of the Internet data travels are owned by telephone companies in their respective countries.

The Internet grew out of the Advanced Research Projects Agency's Wide Area Network (then called ARPANET) established by the US Department Of Defense in 1960s for collaboration in military research among business and government laboratories.

Later universities and other US institutions connected to it. This resulted in ARPANET growing beyond everyone's expectations and acquiring the name 'Internet.'
The development of hypertext based technology (called World Wide web, WWW, or just the Web) provided means of displaying text, graphics, and animations, and easy search and navigation tools that triggered Internet's explosive worldwide growth.

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History, structure, and function of the Internet.

The Internet stands at the forefront of telecommunications in medicine. This worldwide system of computers had its beginnings in networking projects in the United States and western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. The precursor of the Internet was ARPANET, a long-distance telecommunication network funded by the Department of Defense that linked together computers throughout the United States. In the 1980s, ARPANET was superseded by NSFNET, a series of networks created by the National Science Foundation, which established the present-day structure of the Internet. The physical structure of the Internet resembles and is integrated with the telephone system. Long-distance data transport services are provided by large telecommunication companies, called network service providers (NSPs), through high-capacity, high-speed national and international fiber optic cables. These transport services are accessed through Internet service providers, ISPs. ISPs, the equivalent of regional Bell operating companies, provide the physical link to the NSPs for individuals and organizations. Telecommunications on the Internet are standardized by a set of communications protocols, the TCP/IP protocol suite, that describe routing of messages over the Internet, computer naming conventions, and commonly used Internet services such as e-mail. At present, the Internet consists of over 20 million computer worldwide and is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. Along with the growth of the Internet, higher speed access methods are offering a range of new services such as real-time video and voice communications. Medical education, teaching, and research, as well as clinical practice, will be affected in numerous different ways by these advances.

retrieved from; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9579415

Analog: Dial-up Internet Access

Also called dial-up access, an analog Internet connection is both economical and slow. Using a modem connected to your PC, users connect to the Internet when the computer dials a phone number (which is provided by your ISP) and connects to the network. Dial-up is an analog connection because data is sent over an analog,  public-switched telephone network. The modem converts received analog data to digital and vice versa. Because dial-up access uses normal telephone lines the quality of the connection is not always good and data rates are limited. Typical Dial-up connection speeds range from 2400 bps to 56 Kbps. Today, analog has been widely replaced by broadband (Cable and DSL).

ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network

Integrated services digital network (ISDN) is an international communications standard for sending voice, video, and data over digital telephone lines or normal telephone wires. Typical ISDN speeds range from 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps.

DSL – Digital Subscriber Line

KDSL is frequently referred to as an "always on" connection because it uses existing 2-wire copper telephone line connected to the premise so service is delivered simultaneously with wired telephone service --  it will not tie up your phone line as an analog dial-up connection does.  The two main categories of DSL for home subscribers are called ADSL and SDSL.  All types of DSL technologies are collectively referred to as xDSL.  xDSL connection speeds range from 128 bps to 9 Mbps.

Cable -  Broadband Internet Connection

Through the use of a cable modem you can have a broadband Internet connection that is designed to operate over cable TV lines. Cable Internet works by using TV channel space for data transmission, with certain channels used for downstream transmission, and other channels for upstream transmission. Because the coaxial cable used by cable TV provides much greater bandwidth than telephone lines, a cable modem can be used to achieve extremely fast access.  Cable providers typically implement a cap to limit capacity and accommodate more customers. Cable speeds range from 512 Kbps to 20 Mbps.

Wireless Internet Connections

Wireless Internet, or wireless broadband is one of the newest Internet connection types. Instead of using telephone or cable networks for your Internet connection, you use radio frequency bands. Wireless Internet provides an always-on connection which can be accessed from anywhere — as long as you geographically within a network coverage area. Wireless access is still considered to be relatively new, and it may be difficult to find a wireless service provider in some areas. It is typically more expensive and mainly available in metropolitan areas.

T-1 Lines – Leased Line

T-1 lines are a popular leased line option for businesses connecting to the Internet and for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet backbone. It is a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1.544Mbps.  A T-1 line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each of which supports 64Kbits per second. Each 64Kbit/second channel can be configured to carry voice or data traffic. Most telephone companies allow you to buy just one or some of these individual channels. This is known as fractional T-1access. T-1 Lines support speeds of 1.544 Mbps. Fractional T-1 speeds are 64 Kbps per channel (up to 1.544 Mbps), depending on number of leased channels.

Bonded T-1

A bonded T-1is two or more T-1 lines that have been joined (bonded) together to increase bandwidth. Where a single T-1 provides approximately 1.5Mbps, two bonded T1s provide 3Mbps or 46 channels for voice or data. Two bonded T-1s allow you to use the full bandwidth of 3Mbps where two individual T-1s can still only use a maximum of 1.5Mbps at one time. To be bonded the T-1 must run into the same router at the end, meaning they must run to the same ISP.  Typical Bonded T-1 (two bonded T-1 lines) speed is around 3 Mbps.

T-3 Lines – Dedicated Leased Line

T-3 lines are dedicated phone connections supporting data rates of about 43 to 45 Mbps. It too is a popular leased line option. A T-3 line actually consists of 672 individual channels, each of which supports 64 Kbps. T-3 lines are used mainly by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet backbone and for the backbone itself. Typical T-3 supports speeds ranging from 43 to 45 Mbps.

OC3 - Optical Carrier

Short for Optical Carrier, level 3 it is used to specify the speed of fiber optic networks conforming to the SONET standard. OC3 is typically used as a fiber optic backbone for large networks with large voice, data, video, and traffic needs. Speeds are 155.52 Mbps, or roughly the speed of 100 T1 lines.

Internet over Satellite

Internet over Satellite(IoS) allows a user to access the Internet via a satellite that orbits the earth. A satellite is placed at a static point above the earth's surface, in a fixed position. Because of the enormous distances signals must travel from the earth up to the satellite and back again, IoS is slightly slower than high-speed terrestrial connections over copper or fiber optic cables. Typical Internet over satellite connection speeds (standard IP services) average around 492 up to 512 Kbps.

Advantage of Internet

Connectivity, communication, and sharing

In the past, it would take days and sometimes even months to receive a letter from someone else. Today, with the Internet, you can send an e-mail to anyone in the world and often have it delivered in less than a minute. Other forms of communication, such as chat and VOIP, also allow you to have instant communication with anyone in the world.

Online forums are also places where people who share common interests can connect with each other and talk about what they enjoy or ask other experts in the field questions.

Address, mapping, and contact information

With the help of GPS technology, the Internet can help map and direct you to almost every place in the world. You can quickly route to your location or find businesses in your area that may sell or provide you with a service you need. Today's search engines are also smart enough to know your location and help give you the most relevant searches for your area. For example, if you needed a plumber and did a search for "plumber", you would be given local plumbers in your area.

Banking, bills, and shopping

The Internet gives you access to your bank account to view your balance, make transactions, and send money. Also, many services enable you to view and pay your bills electronically.

Online shopping is another huge advantage of the Internet, giving anyone with Internet access the ability to find products that interest them and buy them without having to visit a store. The Internet gives everyone easy access to compare prices between companies and even see what others think about a product through online reviews to help make better purchasing decisions.

Selling and making money

If you are a business or want to sell anything, the Internet is a perfect place to sell most goods. Because anyone in the world with Internet access can find your website, you have access to more people than you ever could with a local retail store. The Internet is always on and always available, which means you have the potential of selling goods 24/7. The Internet also gives all businesses the ability to advertise their product or service to everyone in the world or specify an exact demographic they want to reach.

There are other ways someone can make money online by performing other online services.

• How to make money online.

Collaboration, work from home, and access to a global workforce

The Internet is the perfect place to work with other people from around the world. There are dozens of online services that allow you to work with other people and, with the ability to have instant communication, it can even make producing new products and services faster.

An Internet connection provides many people with the ability to work from home or have a virtual office. Today, many businesses allow their employees to work from home using their computers and Internet connection. Working from home can help save people money by not having to pay for child care and save them money and time by eliminating the daily commute to and from work every day.

If you are a business that needs employees, many services online can give you access to people looking for a job all around the world. Having the ability to hire someone from another part of the country or world allows you to get access to a much wider talent pool and may also allow you to hire someone at a much cheaper rate.

Donations and funding

With access to a much wider audience, anyone with an Internet connection can quickly make a donation to their favorite charity or help fund projects and ideas that interest them. Also, those looking for charity can find many online services that help make it easier to help donate or support their causes.

Entertainment

The Internet gives everyone access to an endless supply of entertainment, with access to watch videos, watch movies, listen to music, and even play games online.

• What things to do when bored on the Internet.

Internet of Things

The Internet helps make devices in your home connected and smarter by giving them access to the Internet. For example, the Nest thermostat can be connected to the Internet to help control the heating and cooling in your home. Also, once these devices are connected, they can be controlled remotely using your computer or smartphone. By connecting IoT (Internet of Things) devices to your home, it can become smarter and more efficient and help save energy, money, and time.

Cloud computing and cloud storage

The Internet connects your computers and Internet-enabled devices to cloud services, like cloud computing and cloud storage. With cloud computing, a device can have access to more powerful computers and even supercomputers to perform complex tasks while you or your business works on other tasks.

Cloud storage allows all of your Internet-connected devices to have access to an endless supply of storage and also makes backing up information easier and safer by automatically making backups to another location. So, if you are using a cloud storage backup service and your home or office burned down, you would not lose all your valuable data.

Disadvantages of Internet

The loss in Cultural and Social Relations:

The man is a social animal. It is important for both mental and physical health that we must interact and communicate with other human beings in real terms. The misuse of the internet has led the young generation to be a victim of loss in cultural and social relations. In olden days, people used to stay together and united in order to communicate with each other; but now all these activities have been lost. Among these, social interaction has been affected the most. Though the internet is providing a contact but its effects are either less promising or weak because real relations can’t be built on the basis of virtual chats and communications only. Most of them usually come out fake which may lead to sadness or depression.

The Interest in Reading Books is Almost Finished:

There is a famous quote saying “a person who reads book live thousands of lives and a person who do not read books lives only once”.

The Internet has almost finished the concept of book reading, People try to gain all sorts of knowledge through the internet; because of this, the interest in reading of books has considerably lost. Book reading must be encouraged in the young generation. Though the internet is also providing online reading facility but with so much other offerings we doubt that one will go for reading and will be successful in focusing on reading only

Illegal and Inappropriate Actions:

The Internet provides you with connectivity on a huge platform. Some people misuse it and perform illegal and inappropriate actions through the use of the technology. Large groups of terrorism and corrupts perform their despicable procedures through the internet.

Criminals and hackers also use the medium for their evil doings. Cyber-crimes are so much common now that almost every country has its own specific cyber-crime control department to deal with cyber-crimes.

Weaken the Eye Muscles:

A major disadvantage of the internet about which usually mothers are more concerned for their children is using the internet for a long period and sticking to computer screens for hours as it causes the eye muscles to become weak. We usually use laptop or computer from a distance less than 2 meters whereas we must use devices exhibiting rays from not less than 6 m so using them for a long period cause eye muscles to become tired and weaken causing a loss of eyesight.

The Radiance of Gathering have Diminished:

The virtual meetings have replaced the actual gatherings. We find two people sitting nearby lost in their own virtual lives. It is a real disadvantage of the internet that it is connecting the people living far away but separating the ones living in one house.

The radiance of gathering, carnivals and stalls have also diminished due to the internet. The significance among people of meeting each other is disappearing; all these activities are now limited to e-mails and chatting over the internet.

Evil-Doers Spread Uncertainties:

The Internet is a medium of quick information which may be misused by many.

Some evil-doers spread uncertainties on the internet through religious controversies. Apart from this, the internet provides the opportunity to analyze further any political speeches and personal controversies; due to this, the society falls victim to chaotic situations and disorganization. It also provides medium to hate speeches and rebels.

The Spread of Wrong Information:

As there are less check and balance on the internet and it is difficult to control traffic, sometimes wrong information is also provided through the internet, because of which many problems and misunderstandings are developed.

Wastage of Time:

Favorite quote from moms “wastage of time”.

Yes, most young adult students and many other people waste their time on the internet doing unimportant things like chatting, Facebooking and many other activities.

The Internet has quite attractive distractions but one should know that time is precious.

Causes Depression:

Using the internet for prolonged hours causes depression and mental stress in youngsters. They become anti-social and gets angry easily. Remember that real happiness lies within the real world and actual life is worth living and far more important than virtual life.

An Increase in Muscle Tension and Worries:

According to a research center in Sydney, from excessive use of the internet, people become so addicted to it, that if they don’t use the internet for a day it leads to increased worries and muscle tension. Just shut down your Facebook account and mobile for one day only and see how tense you will feel. It creates the feeling of lost and cut out from the world which is actually not that much true.

The Cause of Mental Disease:

Where reading books prevent all sorts of mental diseases, using the internet a lot can cause a lot of mental diseases like stress, depression, sadness, addiction etc.

The inappropriate use of internet keeps increasing every day; this is why attention must be given to its effects and its users must be informed about all of them. Kinds of literature and documentaries of some cultures are available on the internet through which the younger generation and especially children, become a victim of character distortion. Some children also start disobeying their parents after watching the action and fiction oriented films. Hence, it is necessary to save your children from the wrong and unrequited use of the internet.

Application of Internet 

• facebook
• twitter
• instagram
• whatsapp
• blogger
• pinterest
• amazon
• weibo