Nowadays, almost every activity involves the Internet. Chatting, sending emails, watching videos – all these things would be impossible in its absence. Since the invention of the Internet, technology has started developing at a very fast pace and it looks like this intense process of evolution will continue for a while.
These 20 facts will help you get a better idea of Internet’s first days and realize make you understand how far it has come in the course of a few decades.
1. Who invented the Internet?
Instead of having only one inventor, the Internet is a result of the work of many scientists, programmers, and engineers. However, Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn are credited with inventing the Internet communication protocols and the system referred to as the Internet. Tim Berners-Lee is also seen as the father of the Internet, because he’s the one who invented the World Wide Web.
2. Internet Day
Internet Day is celebrated internationally every year, on the 29th of October. You can celebrate it by visiting the Internet’s original website, which still exists. Also, you can take some time to reflect and appreciate the surprising changes the Internet has brought to our lives.
3. The age of the Internet
The Internet’s age isn’t exact, because people have different opinions regarding its birthday. For example, some consider it the year when the technology responsible for the creation of the internet was created. Others consider the day WWW was born as Internet’s official birthday. This means that the Internet is either 51 or 31 years old.
4. The first users of the Internet
It is said that some of the first people who tested the Internet were several students at the Imperial College London, who tried it in 1976. However, the world at large started using the Internet in 1991 – two years after the World Wide Web was created.
5. Current Internet user statistics
It is estimated that as of mid-2020, over 4.83 billion people are Internet users. This represents 62% of the entire population. North America is the world region with the highest rate (90% of people use the Internet), followed by Europe, where 87% of the population are Internet users. However, when it comes to the region with the biggest number of users, the first place belongs to Asia, with over 2.5 billion people connected online.
6. Queen Elizabeth II – one of the first Internet users
Besides the English college students, Queen Elizabeth II was also one of the first people who used the Internet. In 1976, she used ARPANET (the first workable prototype of the Internet) to send her first email. Peter Kirstein, often regarded as “the European father of the Internet” was the one who set up her mail account, choosing the username “HME2.”
7. The place with the fastest Internet
Taiwan is known as the place with the fastest average Internet. Its 23.57 million residents get to enjoy an average download speed of 85.02 Mbps. A 5GB movie can be downloaded in only 8 minutes and 2 seconds. It is followed by Singapore, Jersey, and Sweden.
8. The first two letters transmitted from one computer to another through the Internet
On the 29th of October 1969, two mainframe computers exchanged their first word. Initially, the goal was to send the word “login”. However, the operator only got to type the first two letters. Shortly after, the network collapsed. Therefore, the first message on the Internet is considered to be “lo”. Fortunately, after an hour, the programmers were able to do the full login.
9. Statistics regarding the time spent online
A 2019 report shows than an average person spends 6 hours and 42 minutes online each day (the equivalent of more than 100 days – 27% of every year). Half of this period of time is spent on phones.
10. The person with the fastest Internet connection
In 2007, Sigbritt Löthber from Sweden became the person with world’s fastest Internet connection. Although 14 years have passed since then and we’re not sure whether she still holds this title or not, the speed of her Internet remains astonishing. Sigbritt Löthber has a 40 Gbps internet connection, which means that she can download a full high definition DVD in just two seconds. Another surprising thing is that her house is over 1200 miles away from the connection’s original source.
READ MORE: 25 Amazing Facts About the History of the iPod
11. The origins of the expression “to surf the Internet”
Jean Armour Polly, a university librarian, is the one who came up with this phrase. In June 1992, she was working on a paper about technical writings. She started thinking about the title of the article, looking for a metaphor to express the fun she had while using the Internet, as well as the necessary skill and endurance to use it well. She also wanted something that would evoke a sense of randomness and chaos. While writing the article, she was using a mouse pad from the Apple Library in Cupertino, CA, on which there was a surfer on a big wave. The pad said “Information Surfer”. It was at this moment the expression “surfing the Internet” was born.
12. The first spam email
The first spam commercial email was sent by a Digital Equipment Corp marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States on May 3, 1978. The message’s goal was to promote the existence of a new computer model. It was sent to 393 recipients. Although the reaction from the recipients was reportedly negative, the spam increased the number of sales.
13. The capitalization of the word “Internet”
At first, the Internet was written with a capitalized first letter. However, as time went by and Internet connectivity expended, it has gradually started to be written decapitalized in many articles. According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, as of April 2016 the spelling Internet remains more usual in the US, while internet has become predominant in the UK.
14. The reason why the Internet was invented
The motive for creating the internet is a controversial subject. It is said that it was initially invented for military purposes, and then expanded to the purpose of communication among scientists. Charles Herzfeld, the director of DARPA (an agency responsible for the development of technologies used by the military), said that the project was motivated by the frustration that there were only a limited number of large, powerful research computers and that many research investigators, who should have access to them, were geographically separated from them.
15. Time spent on the Internet by age
According to a 2019 survey, people aged 16 to 24 years are the ones who spend the biggest amount of time on the Internet (an average of 4 hours). This amount of time is spent on the phone. When it comes to Internet usage via PCs, laptops and tablets, the first place belongs to people aged 25 to 34 years, with an average of 3 hours and 37 minutes.
16. Nikola Tesla anticipated the existence of the Internet
Nikola Tesla was one of the scientists who predicted the invention of the Internet. Not more than once, Tesla talked about the concept of a “world wireless system”. Here is how he described this idea in an interview: “When wireless is perfectly applied, the whole Earth will be converted into a huge brain…. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. “
17. The usage shared by web browsers
When it comes to the usage of web browsers, statistics from mid-2020 show that Google Chrome is by far the most used (almost 66%). It is followed by Safari (approx. 17%) and Firefox (4%).
18. How much data is on the Internet?
In 2017, a report states that there are 2.7 Zettabytes of data in our digital universe. It is believed that this reached 4.4 ZB in 2019. In fact, it is predicted that the world’s data will grow to 175 ZB by 2025.
19. The number of websites
There are over 1.5 billion websites on the World Wide Web today. Of these, less than 200 million are active. The milestone of 1 billion websites was first reached in September 2014.
20. The first social network
SixDegrees.com is considered the first social media site. It gathered together approximately one million users before it was bought for $125 million and closed in 2000. However, after some time, it made a comeback and still exists today.
The Internet has changed almost every aspect of our lives: communication, shopping, education, culture, etc. It’s surprising how it is able to facilitate so many daily activities and connect people from different parts of the world. The Internet opened so many opportunities in front of us: we can use it to start an online business, to work from home, to learn a new language, and a lot more. If used correctly, the Internet represents a source of unlimited knowledge and a great time saver.
Sources: Days of the Year, History, Britannica, Metro, Wikipedia, iFactory, Internet World Stats, True Royalty, Wired, Panda Security, BBC, Gizmodo, The Next Web, Web FX, TechCrunch, EDN, UC Santa Barbara Computer Science, Statista, Open Culture, NodeGraph, Internet Live Stats, Hootsuite
