internet for communication essay

Impact of Technology on Communication Essay

Introduction, advancement of technology in communication, media technology and online communication, the impacts of mobile phone on communication, reference list.

The realm of technology is ever-changing. New advances in applied science have forever transformed the way people interact. Exploring the impact of technology on communication and debating whether people connect with others differently seems to be the topic of the day.

Technology has allowed people to keep in touch no matter the distance. One is able to communicate 24 hours around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days on an interpersonal level.

What are the real impacts of technology on communication? How do electronics mediate and change the ways in which humans interact? How has the emergence of the Internet, mobile phones, and social networks affected society and businesses?

In order to reveal the importance of technology in communication, the essay tries to find answers to these questions. It explores how everything has changed over the years and discusses the connection between technology and communication.

To begin this examination and find answers to these questions, we begin by defining media and communication and outlining the stages of technological advancement from old age to the present day in the field of communication. The paper will highlight the use of the Internet, newspapers, radio, and other media, but it mostly dwells on the use of mobile telephony.

Communication is “the imparting or exchange of information by speaking, writing or using some other medium” (Daniel & Rod, 2011). On the other hand, media is defined as “the main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively.”

Technology has changed everything in the modern society. The way we communicate has been revolutionized by the advancement of new innovations in the telecommunication sector. Connecting with other people with ease is more feasible in today’s world, and this is due to speed.

Several centuries ago, books and newspapers reigned as the only choice of communication. Then later, innovators brought the radio and television before innovation was taken a notch higher with the coming of the personal computer (Johnson, 1997, p.3).

With every new innovation, the reliance on books and newspapers as the mass medium of communication continued to reduce. With time, human culture has come to understand the power and the mechanisms involved in technology and invention. In today’s world, information has permeated the cycles of change and development.

The world today, past and present, can be studied at ease with the growing information technology. Technology has advanced with sheer velocity allowing different media to shape our thinking and habits. The people who were born during the television era thought that it was the climax of innovation, but they suddenly found themselves acclimating to a new medium, the World Wide Web.

Every time a new medium rolls out, the perceptions towards the previous media you were used to change (Johnson, 1997 p5). Technology proved to be powerful in the sense that no human being can predict what will change and what won’t with certainty.

The irony of it all is the fact that the influence of technology extends beyond generations to come. It is with no doubt that technology has changed the lives of human beings; information and entertainment are being received in a more convenient way.

The innovation of having a conversation using a device called the telephone changed everything in communication. This became magical, and one couldn’t believe such innovation would exist (Tofts, 1997, p.40).

With the emergence of new media technologies, consumers have been empowered to ‘filter’ the information they want to receive. This allows them to have a choice of which news to watch or what information to listen to (Palmer, 2003, p.161).

Media consumption has been made an engaging experience with marketers studying the preferences of the consumers in order to reflect broader social changes in society. In today’s world, the computer is seen as a multi-purpose machine with work and leisure functions, therefore, creating more value.

The rise of the Internet has also made it possible to have virtual offices where the user can work from home or any convenient location. The flow of information from different media has greatly changed the social structures of society at different levels (Barry, 1999).

Digital media has enabled news and event to be channeled in real-time. The combination of the Internet and commerce has given birth to e-commerce sites providing huge potential for marketers to reach out to virtual communities.

In the world today, there are numerous media screens within our surroundings. This ranges from the television sets in our houses, computer monitors at the office, mobile phones and MP3 players in our pockets and handbag.

Even when shopping or waiting to board a plane, you’re most probably staring at screens with entertainment media (Soukup, 2008, p.5). Heavy marketing has been adopted by producers of mobile technologies targeting consumers who possess mobile phones with picture and video capacity (Goggin, 2006, p.170).

Media texts producers have termed mobile media as a “third screen,” a device that consumers carry around with much ease. Unlike television screens, broader communication networks have been integrated into personal computers and mobile phones (Goggin, 2006, p.9).

Train, buses, and airplanes have been dominated by mobile screens providing passengers with entertainment as well as other media content, especially advertisements (Caron & Carona, 2007, p.17). With a lot of commercial media content, the preferences of people change in their everyday lives.

The world of popular media has become chaotic, with hundreds of television channels to choose from, thousands of songs ready for download, and not forgetting millions of web pages to surf.

The emergence of social media like Facebook and Twitter has enabled people to manage interactions and relationships with many friends. Technologies have impacted interpersonal communication enabling people to interact more often than before.

In addition to reducing the distance between people, online communication with tools like Facebook and Twitter enables people to keep track of their contacts with friends and are more aware of the last time they interacted with them. Online communication now incorporates more than one mode of contact, including text, voice, and body language.

A mobile phone is a device that has always been seen as connecting people who are far apart, thus overcoming the geographical distance between them. The number of mobile phone users has continued to increase substantially. The mobile phone has been integrated as part of people’s lives in the sense that it’s available and easy to use, keeping us connected to our families, friends, and business people (Ling, 2004, p.21-24).

The how and when the way we use our mobile phones impacts our communication not only with those we’re communicating with but also with the people within our proximity. At this point, it is paramount to note the changes that have taken place and that have allowed the adoption of mobile phones. The tremendous proliferation of this device has drastically changed the traditional communication model.

Who are the users of mobile phones, and for what purposes do they use them? Has there been any change in the way mobile phone facilitates communication? How has the face to face interaction been affected by mobile calls? Has mobile communication enhanced relationships?

These are some of the questions that arise when we try to fathom the way communication has affected our personal and professional lives. There are sentiments that mobile phones have reduced humans to emotionless beings.

There is no doubt that the revolution brought about the use of mobile phones in the way we communicate. There have been different perceptions among individuals and social levels in society in regard to mobile usage.

When we had fixed telephone lines that were put in a booth, telephones were seen as business tools only and were placed in a fixed, quiet environment. There was restriction when it came to teenagers using these phones (Agar, 2003). The ‘birth’ of mobile phones brought changes, and phone calls became a habit to many irrespective of age or location.

Today, people can use mobile phones wherever they are in private or in public. People have been addicted to their mobile phones more than any other gadget known to man, with the device remaining on throughout. Its portability enables people to carry it wherever they go (Castells, 1996).

A personal virtual network has been created whereby users can be available at all times to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues. The geographical barrier has been destroyed, making people feel close to one another, and the face to face communication has been rendered rather less important with this mediated communication (Richard, 2004, p.22).

Meetings and briefings have become obsolete, with communication being mediated by a computer or a phone. Mobile SMS (short messaging service) service and the Internet has become the preferable communication channels for most teenagers and young people all over the world (Plant, 2000, p.23).

There are places where mobile phones have become taboo devices, places like churches and crucial corporate meetings. At such places, the mobile ring is seen as a nuisance. In other scenarios, it is seen as a destructive device by acting as a third party and especially for dating couples who want to have a private conversation.

Any phone ring is seen as an ‘intruder,’ and this harms the relationship between the partners (Plant, 2000, p.29). In his research, Plant observes that there are those people who use mobile as ’a means of managing privacy where calls are carefully selected’. He categorizes this group of people as ‘hedgehogs.’

The other category is those people who use mobile phones as the key central part of their life. They become so attached to the device and cannot do without it. Plant referred to this group as ‘fox.’ They are regular users who need to feel connected with their families and friend. Their life will be dreadful if they lack the device (2000, p.32).

Telephones have promoted the use of text messaging and modernization since it’s allowing people to communicate more both verbally and by texting in a more convenient and efficient way. SMS has made communication to be more immediate, and users can customize the message at ease with the various applications installed on their mobiles (Richard, 2004, p. 100).

The advanced phones have email support as well as multimedia messages making chatting become a lifestyle for many who conduct business and those initiating intimate communication. It has emerged that SMS has made people become more united.

Users have developed abbreviated messages, which are now universally accepted as an appropriate language. The initial purpose of the phone to make calls has even lost taste with many people, especially the young generation.

According to Reid &Reid, more than 85% of teenagers prefer texting to talking on their mobile usage (Reid & Reid, 2004, p.1). There is ease of communication when it comes to texting in the sense that some formalities are eliminated, making communication more personal.

Texting has helped introverts who may lack the skills to have phone conversations allowing them to express their true self to other people leading to greater understanding and stronger relationships (Reid & Reid, 2004, p.8).

The use of mobile technology has affected the personalities of people to a great extent. Today, more people are hiding their feelings and whereabouts behind mobile phones, and this has raised suspicions among families, friends, and couples.

People go through text messages of others just to find out more about the individual who might even have no clue about what is happening. Contrary to this, most people believe that mobile is so crucial in enhancing the relationship between people no matter the distance and that it bonds us together more than it separates us (Plant, 2000, p.58).

The usage of mobile phones by children and teenagers has changed the way parents bring up their kids. Parenting has really changed as parents try to increase their surveillance and monitor their children’s mobile usage.

Their concern is to know who communicates with their kind and the kind of conversations they normally have. They are worried about the kind of social network the children create in their contact lists.

With the emergence of virtual communities, the influence of mobile phones has spilled over and affects parenting in general. Nonetheless, the primary purpose of mobile phones to facilitate communication has not changed.

There is no doubt that technology has changed the way humans communicate. Great impacts can be seen in the way communication has changed the social structures of our society at all levels. Even in years to come, technology remains the driving force of the way people interact.

The advancement of technology ensures that communication is quicker and that more people remain connected. There has been an evolution in interpersonal skills with the advancement of technology, and users should always be keen on adapting to new ways of communication.

Technology has continually brought new methods of communication leading to the expansion of mediated communication. The reality of having one message shared across a huge audience (mass communication) is now with us. A situation where neither time nor geography can limit the accessibility of information.

We have seen the merging together of newspapers and books with computer technology so that the frequency and ease of reporting information and advertisements can be increased. The exposure of both individuals and society to mediated communication has therefore affected our daily lives, particularly in our culture and the way we communicate.

Agar, J., 2003. Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone . Cambridge: Icon Books.

Barry, W., 1999. Networks in the Global Village . Boulder Colo: Westview Press.

Caron, A, & Caronia, L., 2007. Moving cultures: mobile communication in everyday life. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Castells, M., 1996. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume 1. The Rise of the Network Society . Oxford: Blackwell.

Daniel, C., & Rod, M., 2011.The Dictionary of Media and Communications . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Goggin, G., 2006. Cell phone culture mobile technology in everyday life. New York: Routledge.

Palmer, D., 2003. The Paradox of User Control’. 5 th Annual Digital Arts and Culture Conference (Proceedings), pp.160-164.

Plant, S., 2000. On the Mobile: the effects of mobile telephones on social and individual life . Web.

Postman, N., 1992. Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology . New York: Vintage Books.

Reid, D. J. & Reid F. J. M., 2004. Insights into the Social and Psychological Effects of SMS Text Messaging . Web.

Richard, L., 2004. The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone’s Impact on Society . San Francisco Morgan: Kaufmann.

Soukup, C., 2008. ‘Magic Screens: Everyday Life in an Era of Ubiquitous and Mobile Media Screens’, presented at 94 th annual Convention . San Diego .

Stephen, J., 1997. Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate . San Francisco: Basic Books.

Tofts, D., 1997. ‘ The technology within’ in memory trade: A Prehistory of Cyberculture, North Ryde: 21C Books.

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Essay on Importance of Internet: Samples for Students

• Updated on  
• Nov 23, 2023

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

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!

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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The Impact of the Internet on Society: A Global Perspective

• Manuel Castells archive page

Provided by BBVA

The Internet is the decisive technology of the Information Age, and with the explosion of wireless communication in the early twenty-first century, we can say that humankind is now almost entirely connected, albeit with great levels of inequality in bandwidth, efficiency, and price.

People, companies, and institutions feel the depth of this technological change, but the speed and scope of the transformation has triggered all manner of utopian and dystopian perceptions that, when examined closely through methodologically rigorous empirical research, turn out not to be accurate. For instance, media often report that intense use of the Internet increases the risk of isolation, alienation, and withdrawal from society, but available evidence shows that the Internet neither isolates people nor reduces their sociability; it actually increases sociability, civic engagement, and the intensity of family and friendship relationships, in all cultures.

Our current “network society” is a product of the digital revolution and some major sociocultural changes. One of these is the rise of the “Me-centered society,” marked by an increased focus on individual growth and a decline in community understood in terms of space, work, family, and ascription in general. But individuation does not mean isolation, or the end of community. Instead, social relationships are being reconstructed on the basis of individual interests, values, and projects. Community is formed through individuals’ quests for like-minded people in a process that combines online interaction with offline interaction, cyberspace, and the local space.

View other articles provided by BBVA OpenMind:

• the way of the dodo.

• A Revolution in Business • Banking, Information, and Technology: Toward Knowledge Banking • Cyber Attacks

Globally, time spent on social networking sites surpassed time spent on e-mail in November 2007, and the number of social networking users surpassed the number of e-mail users in July 2009. Today, social networking sites are the preferred platforms for all kinds of activities, both business and personal, and sociability has dramatically increased — but it is a different kind of sociability. Most Facebook users visit the site daily, and they connect on multiple dimensions, but only on the dimensions they choose. The virtual life is becoming more social than the physical life, but it is less a virtual reality than a real virtuality, facilitating real-life work and urban living.

Because people are increasingly at ease in the Web’s multidimensionality, marketers, government, and civil society are migrating massively to the networks people construct by themselves and for themselves. At root, social-networking entrepreneurs are really selling spaces in which people can freely and autonomously construct their lives. Sites that attempt to impede free communication are soon abandoned by many users in favor of friendlier and less restricted spaces.

Perhaps the most telling expression of this new freedom is the Internet’s transformation of sociopolitical practices. Messages no longer flow solely from the few to the many, with little interactivity. Now, messages also flow from the many to the many, multimodally and interactively. By disintermediating government and corporate control of communication, horizontal communication networks have created a new landscape of social and political change.

Networked social movements have been particularly active since 2010, notably in the Arab revolutions against dictatorships and the protests against the management of the financial crisis. Online and particularly wireless communication has helped social movements pose more of a challenge to state power.

The Internet and the Web constitute the technological infrastructure of the global network society, and the understanding of their logic is a key field of research. It is only scholarly research that will enable us to cut through the myths surrounding this digital communication technology that is already a second skin for young people, yet continues to feed the fears and the fantasies of those who are still in charge of a society that they barely understand.

Read the full article here.

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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. Ordering a pizza, buying a television, sharing a moment with a friend, sending a picture over instant messaging. Before the Internet, if you wanted to keep up with the news, you had to walk down to the newsstand when it opened in the morning and buy a local edition reporting what had happened the previous day. But today a click or two is enough to read your local paper and any news source from anywhere in the world, updated up to the minute.

The Internet itself has been transformed. In its early days—which from a historical perspective are still relatively recent—it was a static network designed to shuttle a small freight of bytes or a short message between two terminals; it was a repository of information where content was published and maintained only by expert coders. Today, however, immense quantities of information are uploaded and downloaded over this electronic leviathan, and the content is very much our own, for now we are all commentators, publishers, and creators.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Internet widened in scope to encompass the IT capabilities of universities and research centers, and, later on, public entities, institutions, and private enterprises from around the world. The Internet underwent immense growth; it was no longer a state-controlled project, but the largest computer network in the world, comprising over 50,000 sub-networks, 4 million systems, and 70 million users.

The emergence of  web 2.0  in the first decade of the twenty-first century was itself a revolution in the short history of the Internet, fostering the rise of social media and other interactive, crowd-based communication tools.

The Internet was no longer concerned with information exchange alone: it was a sophisticated multidisciplinary tool enabling individuals to create content, communicate with one another, and even escape reality. Today, we can send data from one end of the world to the other in a matter of seconds, make online presentations, live in parallel “game worlds,” and use pictures, video, sound, and text to share our real lives, our genuine identity. Personal stories go public; local issues become global.

The rise of the Internet has sparked a debate about how online communication affects social relationships. The Internet frees us from geographic fetters and brings us together in topic-based communities that are not tied down to any specific place. Ours is a networked, globalized society connected by new technologies. The Internet is the tool we use to interact with one another, and accordingly poses new challenges to privacy and security.

Information technologies have wrought fundamental change throughout society, driving it forward from the industrial age to the networked era. In our world, global information networks are vital infrastructure—but in what ways has this changed human relations? The Internet has changed business, education, government, healthcare, and even the ways in which we interact with our loved ones—it has become one of the key drivers of social evolution.

The changes in social communication are of particular significance. Although analogue tools still have their place in some sectors, new technologies are continuing to gain ground every day, transforming our communication practices and possibilities—particularly among younger people. The Internet has removed all communication barriers. Online, the conventional constraints of space and time disappear and there is a dizzyingly wide range of communicative possibilities. The impact of social media applications has triggered discussion of the “new communication democracy.”

The development of the Internet today is being shaped predominantly by instant, mobile communications. The mobile Internet is a fresh revolution. Comprehensive Internet connectivity via smartphones and tablets is leading to an increasingly mobile reality: we are not tied to any single specific device, and everything is in the cloud.

People no longer spend hours gazing at a computer screen after work or class; instead, they use their mobile devices to stay online everywhere, all the time.

Anyone failing to keep abreast of this radical change is losing out on an opportunity.

Communication Opportunities Created by the Internet

The Internet has become embedded in every aspect of our day-to-day lives, changing the way we interact with others. This insight struck me when I started out in the world of social media. I created my first social network in 2005, when I was finishing college in the United States—it had a political theme. I could already see that social media were on the verge of changing our way of communicating, helping us to share information by opening up a new channel that cuts across conventional ones.

That first attempt did not work out, but I learned from the experience.I get the feeling that in many countries failure is punished too harshly—but the fact is, the only surefire way of avoiding failure is to do nothing at all. I firmly believe that mistakes help you improve; getting it wrong teaches you how to get it right. Creativity, hard work, and a positive attitude will let you achieve any goal.

In 2006, after I moved to Spain, I created Tuenti. Tuenti (which, contrary to widespread belief, has nothing to do with the number 20; it is short for “tu entidad,” the Spanish for “your entity”) is a social communication platform for genuine friends. From the outset, the idea was to keep it simple, relevant, and private. That’s the key to its success.

I think the real value of social media is that you can stay in touch from moment to moment with the people who really matter to you. Social media let you share experiences and information; they get people and ideas in touch instantly, without frontiers. Camaraderie, friendship, and solidarity—social phenomena that have been around for as long as humanity itself—have been freed from the conventional restrictions of space and time and can now thrive in a rich variety of ways.

Out of all the plethora of communication opportunities that the Internet has opened up, I would highlight the emergence of social media and the way they have intricately melded into our daily lives. Social media have changed our personal space, altering the way we interact with our loved ones, our friends, and our sexual partners; they have forced us to rethink even basic daily processes like studying and shopping; they have affected the economy by nurturing the business startup culture and electronic commerce; they have even given us new ways to form broad-based political movements.

The Internet and Education

The Internet has clearly impacted all levels of education by providing unbounded possibilities for learning. I believe the future of education is a networked future. People can use the Internet to create and share knowledge and develop new ways of teaching and learning that captivate and stimulate students’ imagination at any time, anywhere, using any device. By connecting and empowering students and educators, we can speed up economic growth and enhance the well-being of society throughout the world. We should work together, over a network, to build the global learning society.

The network of networks is an inexhaustible source of information. What’s more, the Internet has enabled users to move away from their former passive role as mere recipients of messages conveyed by conventional media to an active role, choosing what information to receive, how, and when. The information recipient even decides whether or not they want to stay informed.

We have moved on from scattergun mass communication to a pattern where the user proactively selects the information they need.

Students can work interactively with one another, unrestricted by physical or time constraints. Today, you can use the Internet to access libraries, encyclopedias, art galleries, news archives, and other information sources from anywhere in the world: I believe this is a key advantage in the education field. The web is a formidable resource for enhancing the process of building knowledge.

I also believe the Internet is a wonderful tool for learning and practicing other languages—this continues to be a critical issue in many countries, including Spain, and, in a globalized world, calls for special efforts to improve.

The Internet, in addition to its communicative purposes, has become a vital tool for exchanging knowledge and education; it is not just an information source, or a locus where results can be published, it is also a channel for cooperating with other people and groups who are working on related research topics.

The Internet and Privacy and Security

Another key issue surrounding Internet use is privacy. Internet users are becoming more sensitive to the insight that privacy is a must-have in our lives.

Privacy has risen near the top of the agenda in step with an increasing awareness of the implications of using social media. Much of the time, people started to use social media with no real idea of the dangers, and have wised up only through trial and error—sheer accident, snafus, and mistakes. Lately, inappropriate use of social media seems to hit the headlines every day. Celebrities posting inappropriate comments to their profiles, private pictures and tapes leaked to the Internet at large, companies displaying arrogance toward users, and even criminal activities involving private-data trafficking or social media exploitation.

All this shows that—contrary to what many people seem to have assumed—online security and privacy are critical, and, I believe, will become even more important going forward. And, although every user needs privacy, the issue is particularly sensitive for minors—despite attempts to raise their awareness, children still behave recklessly online.

I have always been highly concerned about privacy. On Tuenti, the default privacy setting on every user account is the highest available level of data protection. Only people the user has accepted as a “friend” can access their personal details, see their telephone number, or download their pictures. This means that, by default, user information is not accessible to third parties. In addition, users are supported by procedures for reporting abuse. Any user can report a profile or photograph that is abusive, inappropriate, or violates the terms of use: action is taken immediately. Security and privacy queries are resolved within 24 hours.

We need to be aware that different Internet platforms provide widely different privacy experiences. Some of them are entirely open and public; no steps whatsoever are taken to protect personal information, and all profiles are indexable by Internet search engines.

On the other hand, I think the debate about whether social media use should be subject to an age requirement is somewhat pointless, given that most globally active platforms operate without age restrictions. The European regulatory framework is quite different from the United States and Asian codes. Companies based in Europe are bound by rigorous policies on privacy and underage use of social media. This can become a competitive drawback when the ground rules do not apply equally to all players—our American and Japanese competitors, for instance, are not required to place any kind of age constraint on access.

Outside the scope of what the industry or regulators can do, it is vital that users themselves look after the privacy of their data. I believe the information is the user’s property, so the user is the only party entitled to control the collection, use, and disclosure of any information about him or herself. Some social networks seem to have forgotten this fact—they sell data, make it impossible to delete an account, or make it complex and difficult to manage one’s privacy settings. Everything should be a lot simpler and more transparent.

Social networks should continue to devote intense efforts to developing self-regulation mechanisms and guidelines for this new environment of online coexistence to ensure that user information is safe: the Internet should be a space for freedom, but also for trust. The main way of ensuring that social media are used appropriately is awareness. But awareness and user education will be of little use unless it becomes an absolute requirement that the privacy of the individual is treated as a universal value.

The Internet and Culture

As in the sphere of education, the development of information and communication technologies and the wide-ranging effects of globalization are changing what we are, and the meaning of cultural identity. Ours is a complex world in which cultural flows across borders are always on the rise. The concepts of space, time, and distance are losing their conventional meanings. Cultural globalization is here, and a global movement of cultural processes and initiatives is underway.

Again, in the cultural arena, vast fields of opportunity open up thanks to online tools. The possibilities are multiplied for disseminating a proposal, an item of knowledge, or a work of art. Against those doomsayers who warn that the Internet is harming culture, I am radically optimistic. The Internet is bringing culture closer to more people, making it more easily and quickly accessible; it is also nurturing the rise of new forms of expression for art and the spread of knowledge. Some would say, in fact, that the Internet is not just a technology, but a cultural artifact in its own right.

In addition to its impact on culture itself, the Internet is enormously beneficial for innovation, which brings progress in all fields of endeavor—the creation of new goods, services, and ideas, the advance of knowledge and society, and increasing well-being.

The Internet and Personal Relationships

The Internet has also changed the way we interact with our family, friends, and life partners. Now everyone is connected to everyone else in a simpler, more accessible, and more immediate way; we can conduct part of our personal relationships using our laptops, smart phones, and tablets.

The benefits of always-online immediate availability are highly significant. I would find a long-distance relationship with my life partner or my family unthinkable without the communication tools that the network of networks provides me with. I’m living in Madrid, but I can stay close to my brother in California. For me, that is the key plus of the Internet: keeping in touch with the people who really matter to me.

As we have seen, the Internet revolution is not just technological; it also operates at a personal level, and throughout the structure of society. The Internet makes it possible for an unlimited number of people to communicate with one another freely and easily, in an unrestricted way.

Just a century ago, this was unimaginable. An increasing number of couples come together, stay together, or break up with the aid—or even as a consequence—of social communication tools. There are even apps and social networks out there that are purposely designed to help people get together for sex.

Of course, when compared to face-to-face communication, online communication is severely limited in the sense impressions it can convey (an estimated 60 to 70 percent of human communication takes place nonverbally), which can lead to misunderstandings and embarrassing situations—no doubt quite a few relationships have floundered as a result. I think the key is to be genuine, honest, and real at all times, using all the social media tools and their many advantages. Let’s just remember that a liar and a cheat online is a liar and a cheat offline too.

The Internet and Social and Political Activism

Even before the emergence of social media, pioneering experiments took place in the political sphere—like  Essembly , a project I was involved in. We started to create a politically themed platform to encourage debate and provide a home for social and political causes; but the social networks that have later nurtured activism in a new way were not as yet in existence.

Research has shown that young people who voice their political opinions on the Internet are more inclined to take part in public affairs. The better informed a citizen is, the more likely they will step into the polling booth, and the better they will express their political liberties. The Internet has proved to be a decisive communication tool in the latest election campaigns. It is thanks to the Internet that causes in the social, welfare, ideological, and political arenas have been spoken up for and have won the support of other citizens sharing those values—in many cases, with a real impact on government decision making.

The Internet and Consumer Trends

New technologies increase the speed of information transfer, and this opens up the possibility of “bespoke” shopping. The Internet offers an immense wealth of possibilities for buying content, news, and leisure products, and all sorts of advantages arise from e-commerce, which has become a major distribution channel for goods and services. You can book airline tickets, get a T-shirt from Australia, or buy food at an online grocery store. New applications support secure business transactions and create new commercial opportunities.

In this setting, it is the consumer who gains the upper hand, and the conventional rules and methods of distribution and marketing break down. Consumers’ access to information multiplies, and their reviews of their experience with various products and services take center stage. Access to product comparisons and rankings, user reviews and comments, and recommendations from bloggers with large followings have shaped a new scenario for consumer behavior, retail trade, and the economy in general.

The Internet and the Economy

The Internet is one of the key factors driving today’s economy. No one can afford to be left behind. Even in a tough macroeconomic framework, the Internet can foster growth, coupled with enhanced productivity and competitiveness.

The Internet provides opportunities for strengthening the economy: How should we tackle them? While Europe—and Spain specifically—are making efforts to make the best possible use of the Internet, there are areas in which their approach needs to improve. Europe faces a major challenge, and risks serious failure if it lets the United States run ahead on its own. The European Commission, in its “Startup Manifesto,” suggests that the Old World be more entrepreneur-friendly—the proposal is backed by companies like Spotify and Tuenti. Europe lacks some of the necessary know-how. We need to improve in financial services and in data privacy, moving past the obsolete regulatory framework we now have and making a bid to achieve a well-connected continent with a single market for 4G mobile connections. We need to make it easier to hire talent outside each given country.

The use of e-commerce should be encouraged among small and medium-sized enterprises so that growth opportunities can be exploited more intensely. Following the global trend of the Internet, companies should internalize their online business. And much more emphasis should be placed on new technologies training in the academic and business spheres.

Modern life is global, and Spain is competing against every other country in the world. I do not believe in defeatism or victim culture. Optimism should not translate into callousness, but I sincerely believe that if you think creatively, if you find a different angle, if you innovate with a positive attitude and without fear of failure, then you can change things for the better. Spain needs to seize the moment to reinvent itself, grasping the opportunities offered up by the online world. We need to act, take decisions, avoid “paralysis through analysis.” I sometimes feel we are too inclined to navel-gazing: Spain shuts itself off, fascinated with its own contradictions and local issues, and loses its sense of perspective. Spain should open up to the outside, use the crisis as an opportunity to do things differently, in a new way—creating value, underlining its strengths, aspiring to be something more.

In the United States, for instance, diving headfirst into a personal Internet-related startup is regarded as perfectly normal. I’m glad to see that this entrepreneurial spirit is beginning to take hold here as well. I believe in working hard, showing perseverance, keeping your goals in view, surrounding yourself with talent, and taking risks. No risk, no success. We live in an increasingly globalized world: of course you can have a Spain-based Internet startup, there are no frontiers.

We need to take risks and keep one step ahead of the future. It is precisely the most disruptive innovations that require radical changes in approach and product, which might not even find a market yet ready for them—these are the areas providing real opportunities to continue being relevant, to move forward and “earn” the future, creating value and maintaining leadership. It is the disruptive changes that enable a business, product, or service to revolutionize the market—and, particularly in the technology sector, such changes are a necessity.

The Future of Social Communications, Innovation, Mobile Technologies, and Total Connectivity in Our Lives

The future of social communications will be shaped by an  always-online  culture.  Always online  is already here and will set the trend going forward. Total connectivity, the Internet you can take with you wherever you go, is growing unstoppably. There is no turning back for global digitalization.

Innovation is the driving force of growth and progress, so we need to shake up entrenched processes, products, services, and industries, so that all of us together—including established businesses, reacting to their emerging competitors—can move forward together.

Innovation is shaping and will continue to shape the future of social communications. It is already a reality that Internet connections are increasingly mobile. A survey we conducted in early 2013 in partnership with Ipsos found that 94 percent of Tuenti users aged 16 to 35 owned cell phones, 84 percent of users connected to the Internet using their phones, and 47 percent had mobile data subscriptions for connecting to the Internet. A total of 74 percent of users reported connecting to the Internet from their phone on a daily basis, while 84 percent did so at least weekly. Only 13 percent did not use their phones to connect to the Internet, and that percentage is decreasing every day.

Mobile Internet use alters the pattern of device usage; the hitherto familiar ways of accessing the Internet are changing too. The smartphone activities taking up the most time (over three hours a day) include instant messaging (38%), social media use (35%), listening to music (24%), and web browsing (20%). The activities taking up the least time (under five minutes a day) are: SMS texting (51%), watching movies (43%), reading and writing e-mail (38%), and talking on the phone (32%). Things are still changing.

Smartphones are gaining ground in everyday life. Many of the purposes formerly served by other items now involve using our smartphones. Some 75 percent of young people reported having replaced their MP3 player with their phone, 74 percent use their phone as an alarm clock, 70 percent use it as their camera, and 67 percent use it as their watch.

We have been observing these shifts for a while, which is why we decided to reinvent ourselves by placing smartphones at the heart of our strategy. I want to use this example as a showcase of what is happening in the world of social communication and the Internet in general: mobile connectivity is bringing about a new revolution. Tuenti is no longer just a social network, and social media as a whole are becoming more than just websites. The new Tuenti provides native mobile apps for Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, as well as the Firefox OS app and the mobile version of the website, m.tuenti.com. Tuenti is now a cross-platform service that lets users connect with their friends and contacts from wherever they may be, using their device of choice. A user with a laptop can IM in real time with a user with a smartphone, and switch from one device to another without losing the thread of the conversation. The conversations are in the cloud, so data and contacts are preserved independently of the devices being used. This means the experience has to be made uniform across platforms, which sometimes involves paring down functionalities, given the processing and screen size limitations of mobile devices. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on are all evolving to become increasingly cross-platform experiences. But Tuenti is the first social network that has also developed its own Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO)—the company is an Internet service provider over the mobile network. Tuenti is an MVNO with a social media angle, and this may be the future path of telecommunications.

Social media are evolving to become something more, and innovation must be their hallmark if they are to continue being relevant. Tuenti now embraces both social communications and telecom services provision, offering value added by letting you use the mobile app free of charge and without using up your data traffic allowance, even if you have no credit on your prepaid card—this is wholly revolutionary in the telecom sector. The convergence of social media with more traditional sectors is already bringing about a new context for innovation, a new arena for the development and growth of the Internet.

Just about everything in the world of the Internet still lies ahead of us, and mobile communications as we know them must be reinvented by making them more digital. The future will be shaped by innovation converging with the impact of mobility. This applies not just to social media but to the Internet in general, particularly in the social communications field. I feel that many people do not understand what we are doing and have no idea of the potential development of companies like ours at the global level. Right now, there may be somebody out there, in some corner of the world, developing the tool that will turn the Internet upside down all over again. The tool that will alter our day-to-day life once more. Creating more opportunities, providing new benefits to individuals, bringing more individual and collective well-being. Just ten years ago, social media did not exist; in the next ten years, something else radically new will emerge. There are many areas in which products, processes, and services can be improved or created afresh. The future is brimming with opportunities, and the future of the Internet has only just begun.

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Essay On Internet for Students and Children

500+ words essay on internet.

We live in the age of the internet. Also, it has become an important part of our life that we can’t live without it. Besides, the internet is an invention of high-end science and modern technology . Apart from that, we are connected to internet 24×7. Also, we can send big and small messages and information faster than ever. In this essay on the Internet, we are going to discuss various things related to the internet.

Reach of Internet

It is very difficult to estimate the area that the internet cover. Also, every second million people remain connected to it with any problem or issue. Apart from that, just like all the things the internet also has some good and bad effect on the life of people. So the first thing which we have to do is learn about the good and bad effect of the internet.

Good effects of the internet mean all those things that the internet make possible. Also, these things make our life easier and safer.

Bad effects of the internet mean all those things that we can no longer do because of the internet. Also, these things cause trouble for oneself and others too.

You can access in any corner of the world. Also, it is very easy to use and manage. In today’s world, we cannot imagine our life without it.

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

Uses Of Internet

From the time it first came into existence until now the internet has completed a long journey. Also, during this journey, the internet has adopted many things and became more user-friendly and interactive. Besides, every big and small things are available on internet and article or material that you require can be obtainable from internet.

Tim Berners-Lee can be called one of the main father of internet as he invented/discovered the WWW (World Wide Web) which is used on every website. Also, there are millions of pages and website on the internet that it will take you years to go through all of them.

The Internet can be used to do different things like you can learn, teach, research, write, share, receive, e-mail , explore, and surf the internet.

Read Essay on Technology here

Convenience Due To Internet

Because of internet, our lives have become more convenient as compared to the times when we don’t have internet. Earlier, we have to stand in queues to send mails (letters), for withdrawing or depositing money, to book tickets, etc. but after the dawn of the internet, all these things become quite easy. Also, we do not have to waste our precious time standing in queues.

Also, the internet has contributed a lot to the environment as much of the offices (government and private), school and colleges have become digital that saves countless paper.

Although, there is no doubt that the internet had made our life easier and convenient but we can’t leave the fact that it has caused many bigger problems in the past. And with the speed, we are becoming addict to it a day in will come when it will become our basic necessity.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [ { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What are the limitation of internet?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Although internet can help you with anything but there are certain limitation to it. First of it does not have a physical appearance. Secondly, it does not have emotions and thirdly, it can’t send you to a place where you can’t go (physically).” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is the ideal age for using internet?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Nowadays everybody from small kids to adult is internet addicts. So it is difficult to decide an ideal age for using internet. However, according to researches using internet from an early age can cause problems in the child so internet usage of small children should be controlled or banned.” } } ] }

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The internet has transformed the world in ways that were unimaginable just a few decades ago. It has revolutionized how we communicate, access information, conduct business, and even how we entertain ourselves. The internet has become an integral part of our daily lives, and it’s hard to imagine a world without it.

At its core, the Internet is a vast network of interconnected computers and servers that allows for the exchange of information and data across the globe. It was originally conceived as a way for researchers and scientists to share information and collaborate on projects, but it has since evolved into a ubiquitous platform that has permeated every aspect of modern life.

One of the most significant impacts of the internet has been on communication. Before the internet, communication was limited by geography and time zones. People had to rely on physical mail, telephone calls, or face-to-face meetings to communicate with one another. The internet has made communication instantaneous and borderless. With the rise of email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and social media platforms, people can communicate with each other from anywhere in the world, at any time.

The internet has also revolutionized the way we access information. In the past, people had to rely on physical libraries, books, and other printed materials to access information. Today, with the internet, a wealth of information is available at our fingertips. From online encyclopedias to news websites, academic journals, and online databases, the internet has made it possible to access information on virtually any topic imaginable.

Another significant impact of the internet has been on the economy and the way we conduct business. The rise of e-commerce has made it possible for businesses to reach a global market and sell their products and services online. Online shopping has become increasingly popular, and many traditional brick-and-mortar stores have had to adapt to this new reality by establishing an online presence.

Furthermore, the internet has enabled the rise of the gig economy, where people can work as freelancers or contractors for multiple clients and projects simultaneously. This has created new opportunities for individuals to earn a living and has allowed businesses to access a global talent pool.

The internet has also had a profound impact on education. Online learning platforms and distance education programs have made it possible for students to access educational resources and attend classes from anywhere in the world. This has opened up new opportunities for people who may not have had access to traditional educational institutions due to geographical or financial constraints.

However, the internet has also brought with it a number of challenges and concerns. One of the biggest concerns is privacy and security. With so much personal information being shared online, there is a risk of data breaches and cyber attacks. Companies and individuals need to be vigilant about protecting their personal information and implementing strong cybersecurity measures.

Another concern is the spread of misinformation and fake news. The internet has made it easier for anyone to publish and share information, regardless of its accuracy or credibility. This has led to the proliferation of fake news and conspiracy theories, which can have serious consequences for individuals and society as a whole.

There is also concern about the impact of the internet on mental health and well-being. The constant exposure to social media and the pressure to curate a perfect online persona can lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Additionally, the addictive nature of the internet and the constant stream of information can contribute to decreased attention spans and difficulty focusing on tasks.

Despite these challenges, the internet has proven to be an invaluable tool that has transformed the way we live, work, and interact with the world around us. It has opened up new opportunities for communication, education, and economic growth, and has made it possible for people to connect and collaborate in ways that were previously unimaginable.

As we move forward, it is important to address the challenges and concerns surrounding the internet while also embracing its potential for innovation and progress. This may involve implementing stronger cybersecurity measures, promoting digital literacy and critical thinking skills, and encouraging responsible and ethical use of the internet.

In conclusion, the internet has had a profound impact on virtually every aspect of modern life. It has revolutionized communication, education, business, and access to information. While it has brought with it a number of challenges and concerns, the internet has proven to be an invaluable tool that has transformed the way we live and interact with the world around us. As we continue to navigate the digital age, it is important to embrace the opportunities that the internet provides while also addressing its challenges and promoting responsible and ethical use.

Uses of Internet

In the 21st century, the internet has become an indispensable part of our daily lives, revolutionizing the way we connect, learn, work, and entertain ourselves. Its multifaceted uses have permeated every aspect of society, bringing about unprecedented convenience and opportunities.

Communication stands out as one of the internet’s most significant uses. Instant messaging, video calls, and social media platforms have transcended geographical barriers, allowing people to stay connected with friends and family across the globe. The internet has turned the world into a global village, fostering a sense of unity and understanding among diverse cultures.

Education has undergone a remarkable transformation due to the internet. Online courses, tutorials, and educational resources have made learning accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Students can pursue degrees, acquire new skills, and access a wealth of information at their fingertips, democratizing education and breaking down traditional barriers to learning.

The internet has also redefined the way we work. Remote collaboration tools, cloud computing, and virtual offices have become essential components of the modern workplace. This shift has not only increased efficiency but has also opened up new opportunities for freelancers and remote workers, contributing to the rise of the gig economy.

In the realm of information, the internet has become an unparalleled resource. Search engines allow us to access vast amounts of information on any topic imaginable. This democratization of information has empowered individuals, encouraging critical thinking and facilitating informed decision-making.

Entertainment has undergone a digital revolution, with streaming services, online gaming, and social media platforms providing endless avenues for amusement. The internet has not only transformed how we consume content but has also given rise to new forms of artistic expression and creativity.

In conclusion, the internet’s uses are multifaceted and far-reaching, impacting every facet of our lives. From connecting people across the globe to revolutionizing education, work, and entertainment, the internet continues to be a transformative force, shaping the present and influencing the future. As we navigate the digital landscape, it is essential to harness the potential of the internet responsibly, ensuring that it remains a force for positive change in the years to come.

Convenience Due to Internet

The advent of the internet has ushered in an era of unprecedented convenience, transforming the way we live, work, and interact with the world. In our fast-paced lives, the internet has become a cornerstone of efficiency and ease, offering a multitude of conveniences that have reshaped our daily routines.

Communication is perhaps the most obvious and impactful convenience brought about by the internet. Instant messaging, email, and social media platforms have revolutionized the way we connect with others. Whether it’s staying in touch with loved ones, collaborating with colleagues, or reaching out to friends across the globe, the internet has made communication instantaneous and seamless.

The convenience of online shopping has fundamentally altered the retail landscape. With just a few clicks, consumers can browse, compare prices, and purchase a vast array of products from the comfort of their homes. The rise of e-commerce platforms has not only made shopping more convenient but has also introduced the concept of doorstep delivery, saving time and eliminating the need for physical store visits.

Information retrieval has been transformed by the internet’s vast repository of knowledge. Search engines provide instant access to information on any conceivable topic, enabling users to quickly find answers, conduct research, and stay informed. This ease of information retrieval has empowered individuals, making knowledge more accessible than ever before.

The workplace has undergone a paradigm shift with the internet, enabling remote work and flexible schedules. Online collaboration tools, cloud computing, and virtual communication platforms have made it possible for individuals to work from virtually anywhere, reducing the constraints of traditional office settings and commuting.

Entertainment has also become infinitely more convenient through streaming services, online gaming, and digital media platforms. The ability to access a diverse range of content on-demand has given consumers unprecedented control over their entertainment choices, eliminating the need to adhere to fixed schedules or physical media.

In conclusion, the internet has woven a tapestry of convenience into the fabric of our lives. From streamlined communication and effortless online shopping to boundless information access and flexible work arrangements, the conveniences offered by the internet have become integral to our modern existence. As we navigate this digital landscape, the ongoing evolution of internet technologies continues to enhance and redefine the meaning of convenience in our interconnected world.

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Essay On Internet- FAQs

What is internet short essay.

In the modern time, internet has become is one of the most powerful and interesting tools all across the world. The Internet is a network of networks and collection of many services and resources which benefits us in various ways. Using internet we can access World Wide Web from any place.

What is Internet in 150 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.

What is internet 100 words?

A. The internet, a recent man-made marvel, has brought the world closer. It has shattered all barriers and made everything accessible. The internet serves us in countless ways, from sharing information with people across the world to staying connected with our loved ones.

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Does the Internet Bring People Closer Together or Further Apart? The Impact of Internet Usage on Interpersonal Communications

1 Business School, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China

Guangjie Ning

2 HSBC Business School, Peking University, Shenzhen 518055, China

Qianqian Liu

Associated data.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS, http://cgss.ruc.edu.cn/English/Home.htm (accessed on 25 September 2022). Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are also available from the authors with the permission of the CGSS.

The complementarity interference (CI) model suggests that the Internet may either inhibit or facilitate interpersonal communications. This paper empirically examines the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal interactions, using a micro dataset from China to answer whether the Internet brings people closer together or further apart. The empirical results demonstrate, first, that Internet usage significantly increases both the time and frequency of people’s communications with their family and friends, rather than causing them to feel more disconnected and isolated. Holding other factors constant, for each one-standard-deviation increase in Internet usage, weekly communications with family members increases by an average of 102.150 min, while there is an average increase of 54.838 min in interactions with friends. These findings as to its positive effects are robust when using other regression models and interpersonal contact measures, as well as the instrumental variable method. Second, Internet usage also contributes to decreased loneliness; it exerts this effect primarily by improving people’s interactions with their family members. However, communications with friends do not significantly mediate such impacts. Third, the positive role of Internet usage on communications is more prominent for people with more frequent online socialization and self-presentation, better online skills, younger age, higher educational level, and who are living in urban areas. In addition, the beneficial effects of Internet usage are larger for communications with family members in the case of migrants. Therefore, in the context of the rapid development of information technology, the network infrastructure should be improved to make better use of the Internet to facilitate interpersonal communications and promote people’s wellness.

1. Introduction

Whether Internet usage brings people closer together or further apart is an important but unanswered question. With the rapid development of information technology, the Internet has been widely used in various areas almost all over the world. According to Internet World Stats, compared with the year 2000, the number of global Internet users in 2022 has increased by 14.16 times. By 31 July 2022, there were 5.47 billion Internet users in the world out of the 7.93 billion global population, and the penetration rate has steadily risen to 68.98% [ 1 ]. The rapid taking up of the Internet has profoundly changed human society in multiple aspects. On the macro level, it has reduced transaction costs, promoted industrial upgrading [ 2 , 3 ], and driven economic development [ 4 , 5 ]. On the micro level, the Internet has tremendous impacts on people’s daily lives and has changed their lifestyles, habits, attitudes and preferences [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. However, the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal communications is still unclear. The complementarity interference (CI) model suggests that the Internet may either inhibit or facilitate interpersonal interactions.

On the one hand, in terms of the interference aspects, there may be a crowding-out effect of Internet usage on interpersonal contacts. Using the Internet may divert people’s attention from communicating with family and friends to other activities, such as playing online games, surfing websites, watching online videos, and live streaming. This may lead people to ignore real-life communications [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. In addition, excessive addiction to the Internet can also trigger people’s depression, anxiety, and emotional impulsivity, resulting in a poor psychological state and even social phobias [ 12 , 13 ]. This may also cause people to reduce their interpersonal interactions. Based on this finding, it has been hypothesized that the more time spent on the Internet, the fewer interpersonal communications there will be.

On the other hand, in terms of complementarity, the Internet may facilitate interpersonal communications by reducing communication costs and providing opportunities for teleconferencing. Before the popularization of modern information technologies, people could only communicate by meeting face to face. Later, the development of communication technologies, such as the telegraph and telephone, eliminated the geographical boundaries of interpersonal contacts and made remote communication a reality. However, traditional communication technologies can only transmit information via voice and text messages and have the drawback of high cost. The Internet has greatly reduced the cost of communications, shortened the distances between disparate groups, and has even made it possible for people to meet via video conferencing [ 14 ]. In addition, Internet technologies have brought a variety of emerging communication platforms, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom, and WeChat, helping people to communicate more conveniently at a much lower cost [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. On the basis of this evolution, it is hypothesized that the more time people spend on the Internet, the more interpersonal communications there are.

Interpersonal communications are essential to building social networks, which is also a necessary channel to help people establish social trust and enhance their sense of belonging and happiness [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Therefore, in the context of the rapid development of Internet technology, it is of great importance to clarify the impact of the Internet on interpersonal communications. If Internet usage can facilitate interpersonal interactions at a lower cost and in a more convenient way, then we should make full use of this technology to promote communications. Conversely, if the Internet reduces interpersonal communications, then necessary measures should be taken to alleviate its negative effects on interpersonal interactions while utilizing the benefits of the Internet in other aspects. Therefore, this paper aims to empirically examine the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal communications, using the Chinese General Social Survey. The robustness and endogeneity of the results are also tested from multiple perspectives. On this basis, we further explore the impact of Internet usage on people’s feelings of loneliness and the mediating role of interpersonal communications. In addition, the heterogeneities of the Internet’s effects are systematically investigated.

Compared with the existing literature, the contributions of this paper are mainly reflected in two aspects. First, this paper enriches the research concerning the Internet’s impacts on people. Most of the existing literature examines the influence of the Internet from the points of view of working conditions, psychological states, emotions, health, preferences, and lifestyles [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], while little research has been conducted concerning its effect on interpersonal communications. Second, this paper deepens our understanding of the influencing factors of interpersonal interactions, from the new perspective of modern information technology. Existing studies in the field of social communications have mainly focused on the effects of demographic characteristics, social identities, culture, and so on [ 25 , 26 , 27 ], lacking any assessment of the impact of the Internet.

This paper aims to examine the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal communications, as well as to investigate the heterogeneities in its effect, to systematically answer whether the Internet brings people closer together or pushes them further apart. This study is carried out following the research logic of “literature review—theoretical framework—empirical tests—further discussion—heterogeneity analysis”. A systematic literature review is given in Section 2 . Based on the literature, a theoretical framework using the complementarity interference (CI) model is presented in Section 3 , wherein the hypotheses are proposed. To test the theory, the data, variables, and empirical results are presented in Section 4 and Section 5 . Section 6 further discusses the impact of Internet usage on loneliness and the mediating role of interpersonal communications, as well as the Internet’s effects in other respects. Section 7 explores the heterogeneities of the impact of Internet usage. Section 8 summarizes all the conclusions drawn in the above sections, Section 9 identifies the theoretical and practical implications, and Section 10 discusses the study’s limitations and further research directions.

2. Literature Review

2.1. the impact of internet usage on people’s lives.

With the advancement of information technology, the Internet has become more and more indispensable in people’s daily lives. The Internet has brought tremendous positive impacts in multiple aspects. For example, Internet-based telecommuting is becoming a convenient and increasingly popular mode of work around the world [ 28 ]. Moreover, studies have found that self-presentation on social media helps users to achieve higher psychological well-being [ 29 ]. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the positive impact of self-presentation on social media on psychological well-being is more significant in those with higher self-esteem [ 30 ]. Through online comparisons, people are able to generate benign envy, which is helpful for inspiration [ 22 , 31 ].

However, it has also been found that the Internet has mixed and heterogeneous impacts on its users. For example, while for girls, daily Internet use was not associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms [ 32 ], for boys, a positive association between the two factors did exist [ 33 ]. Interestingly, a study based on a Chinese sample found a significantly positive association between Internet use and mental health [ 34 ]. Many studies have also identified jealousy as one of the main symptoms of poorer states of mental health resulting from Internet use [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. In addition to psychological health, existing studies find a significant negative association between mobile Internet use and self-rated health [ 34 ]. Moreover, online games are one of the most significant applications of the Internet and their impacts are controversial. It is found that frequent exposure to violent online games tends to be associated with an increase in aggressive behavior, desensitization, and physiological arousal, while also showing a decrease in empathy [ 38 ]. However, other studies have found that the correlation between online games and aggressive behaviors is not significant [ 23 , 24 ]. In addition, practical games are widely used in multiple areas of education, healthcare, sustainability projects, training, and consultancy, but their effectiveness varies due to differences in the designs [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ].

Furthermore, Internet usage has also led to the emergence of Internet addiction, a new clinical disorder [ 44 ]. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased people’s Internet online usage and a rising prevalence of Internet addiction has been reported among people in various occupations [ 45 , 46 ]. Although Internet addiction has not been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Psychological Association (APA), existing studies have shown that it is a new type of serious mental disorder [ 47 ]. There are heterogeneities in the severity and prevalence of Internet addiction. Regionally, Internet addiction has a greater impact on Internet users in developed areas, such as in Europe and the United States [ 48 , 49 ]. Studies also found that those with greater neuroticism are more likely to become addicted to the Internet [ 50 , 51 ]. Heterogeneity also exists in terms of gender, age, and social class. For example, people with a higher social class are less likely to experience Internet addiction [ 49 , 52 ].

2.2. Factors Affecting Interpersonal Communications

Interpersonal communication is a complex social process and is closely related to people’s well-being. Evidence shows that those with a high level of communication skills have a better mental health status compared to their counterparts [ 53 , 54 ]. Other studies have found that higher interpersonal stress is associated with stronger symptoms of insomnia, which, in turn, is associated with poorer mental health status [ 55 , 56 ]. In addition to its important impact on the psychological well-being of individuals, interpersonal communication also plays an essential role in building strong family relationships [ 57 , 58 ]. The importance of interpersonal communication is also reflected in many other aspects, including improving learning ability, obtaining job opportunities, promoting career development, etc. [ 59 , 60 ].

Regarding the factors affecting interpersonal communications, studies have found that age, gender, culture, social background, working characteristics, geographical distance, and technology exert a level of influence [ 25 , 58 , 61 ], although there is disagreement about the exact impact of these factors. For example, ethnic background affects interpersonal communications to some extent, mainly because people with different backgrounds are more likely to experience cultural misunderstandings with each other [ 26 ]. It has already been mentioned above that interpersonal communication can influence mental health and physical activities. Likewise, the two factors also affect interpersonal interaction. A study using a sample of college students found that social anxiety had a negative impact on their interpersonal communication skills, while psychological resilience played a mediating role between them, and perceived social support from teachers and classmates further moderated their psychological resilience [ 62 ]. It was also found that physical activity can facilitate family communication among family members because it provides more opportunities for them to meet [ 27 , 63 ].

In general, existing studies demonstrate that interpersonal communications are of great importance in promoting people’s mental health and helping families to build resilience. At the same time, interpersonal communications are conducive to acquiring new knowledge and playing a better role in both the family and society. Moreover, demographic, work, human capital, and social characteristics are the main factors that influence interpersonal communication.

2.3. Possible Relationship between Internet Usage and Interpersonal Communication

As mentioned above, interpersonal communication plays an important role in people’s lives, work, and careers; nowadays, it can be achieved by face-to-face interactions as well as via the Internet. At the same time, the Internet has both pros and cons in many aspects. So how does the Internet impact interpersonal communications? Based on existing research, it is believed that frequent exposure to the Internet distracts users from their offline lives [ 64 ]. For example, the use of mobile Internet via smartphones distracts parents from spending time with their children and undermines the communication between parents and children [ 65 ]. Furthermore, another study shows that children’s Internet use is also associated with a decrease in their participation in family activities. When people are overly dependent on the Internet, online activities can replace offline social connections with their family members and friends [ 11 , 66 ]. Internet addiction has also been proven to lead to a reduction in people’s social and interpersonal skills [ 47 , 67 ], which may further reduce their communications with family and friends. Although the effect of Internet usage on interpersonal communications has not been directly studied, the aforementioned studies imply that time spent on the Internet may crowd out interpersonal interaction, to some extent.

However, other studies point to the possible positive effects of Internet usage on interpersonal communication. Thanks to the development of Internet technology, today, text messages and voice calls are no longer the main methods for people of all ages [ 15 , 16 ]. Social networking software and group chats have become popular communication platforms [ 27 , 68 ]. Many studies have found that the use of the Internet effectively brings much convenience to interpersonal connections for both the young and old cohorts [ 69 , 70 ], which in turn can benefit people’s well-being [ 71 ]. Indeed, compared with traditional communication methods, such as letters, telegraphs and phone calls, the Internet provides innovative means of communication, such as video meetings, in a more convenient and cost-saving way. For example, WhatsApp has been shown to facilitate intergenerational family interactions [ 17 ]. Facebook helps to maintain interpersonal relationships for those who have difficulty making social connections, especially for people with low self-esteem [ 72 ].

Overall, the Internet has changed people’s lives tremendously, although its effects on interpersonal communications have not been systematically tested. In this context, it can be hypothesized from the existing research that the Internet may crowd out interpersonal communications [ 47 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. Nevertheless, many studies believe that the Internet reduces the cost of communication between people, offering more diverse and convenient ways to make contact [ 15 , 16 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ]. Therefore, it can also be speculated that the Internet may shorten the distances between people, thereby promoting interpersonal communication. However, even with theoretical analysis and the existing literature, the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal interactions is still unclear. In view of this gap in the literature, we aim to systematically investigate how the Internet affects interpersonal communication.

3. Theoretical Framework

3.1. internet usage.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal communication. For the explanatory variable, time spent on the Internet is the most direct and important indicator by which to measure Internet usage; it is very intuitive and is widely used [ 11 , 67 , 73 ]. In addition, it has been applied not only to characterize how people generally use the Internet in their daily life but also to measure possible excessive Internet use and Internet addiction [ 74 ].

3.2. Interpersonal Communications

Studies have shown that communications with family members and friends are most important in people’s daily interpersonal interactions [ 75 , 76 , 77 ]. In the benchmarking analysis, time spent on communications with family and friends is used to reflect interpersonal interactions. Meanwhile, considering that the frequency of interactions is also a very important indicator for interpersonal contact, this is used for further robustness analysis. Both kinds of indicators have been applied to measure the levels of interpersonal contact in existing research [ 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 ].

The complementarity interference (CI) model [ 53 , 82 ] of the Internet, as illustrated in Figure 1 , provides a theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal communication. Based on the following theoretical analysis, Internet usage may either facilitate or deteriorate interpersonal communication.

The theoretical framework of the study.

3.3. Interference Aspects of Internet Usage

3.3.1. distracting attention.

Studies have confirmed a significantly negative correlation between online and offline activities [ 83 ]. The Internet may divert people’s attention away from interpersonal interactions to online activities, including video games, online news, short videos, live streaming, etc., leading users to neglect communications with family and friends in real life [ 10 , 66 ]. This suggests that Internet usage may shift people’s attention; there may be a crowding-out effect of Internet usage on interpersonal communication. In addition, research has also found a negative correlation between Internet usage and time spent accompanying family members [ 11 ]. Although they do not specifically examine how the Internet affects family communications, the findings imply that time spent online may reduce interpersonal interactions inside the family, to some extent. In addition, in parent–child contact, the parent’s attention is easily distracted by online activities via smartphones, resulting in compromised parent-child bonds [ 65 ].

3.3.2. Reducing Social Skills

It has been shown that people tend to establish fewer offline social networks when they are overly dependent on the Internet [ 68 ]. This may be due to the fact that Internet usage reduces people’s social and interpersonal skills [ 67 ], thereby decreasing their communications and interactions. Studies have also found that among adolescents with a higher prevalence of Internet addiction, social skills are generally poorer [ 47 ]. Moreover, Internet addiction is proven to be closely related to attention deficit disorders, further causing social phobia [ 84 ]. Another study has identified that inadequate social skills and social fears decrease interpersonal communication [ 85 ]. Consequently, Internet use may hinder interpersonal interactions by reducing people’s social skills.

3.3.3. Increasing Negative Emotions

Internet usage may trigger depression, anxiety, and impulsiveness in some people, resulting in poor psychological states and negative emotions [ 10 ]. This may also further lead to a decrease in interpersonal interactions [ 11 , 73 ]. In addition, compared with face-to-face communications, Internet-based interpersonal interactions are disadvantaged in terms of emotional transmission and are, thus, less effective in enhancing effective communication [ 53 , 83 ]. Another source of negative feelings brought about by the Internet is peer pressure. Nowadays, people tend to share their daily lives via online platforms, inadvertently causing them to make comparisons with the lives of others. This makes people more pessimistic about their body image and standard of living, resulting in increased anxiety [ 86 ]. The nervousness caused by peer pressure on the Internet leads users to be more reluctant to communicate with others in the real world.

Based on the interference aspects of Internet usage, Hypothesis 1 can be proposed:

The more hours people use the Internet, the less time they spend on interpersonal communications.

3.4. Complementarity Aspects of Internet Usage

3.4.1. reducing the cost of interpersonal communications.

Before the popularization of modern information technologies, people could only communicate face-to-face. Later, the telegraph and telephone eliminated the geographical boundaries of interpersonal contact and made remote communication a reality [ 87 ]. However, traditional communication techniques face the problem of high costs. The Internet has greatly reduced both the time and money needed for instant communication, narrowed the distances between people, and made simultaneous communication affordable. For example, compared with telephone calls, Internet-based voice calls and online meetings cost much less in time and money for people to communicate [ 14 , 88 ].

3.4.2. Enriching Communication Channels and Modes

Traditional communication technologies mainly transmit voice and text, but it is difficult for them to simulate face-to-face interactions. The Internet has spawned a variety of emerging communication channels and modes, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Zoom, and WeChat, which can help people to replicate face-to-face interactions more realistically online [ 15 , 16 ]. For example, during the COVID-19 epidemic, various network platforms facilitated remote working and learning [ 89 ]. Without the Internet, this would have been almost unachievable. In addition, Internet-based communications help to improve the quality of people’s long-distance interactions compared to traditional methods. For example, it has been established that WhatsApp, an instant online messaging tool, can promote intergenerational communication among family members and help them build better bridges of understanding with each other [ 17 ].

3.4.3. Building Wider Social Networks

The Internet helps people overcome communication barriers in real life, especially the fear of communicating with strangers, thereby establishing broader social networks [ 90 ]. Studies have found that Internet-based social networking platforms are effective in helping people share updates and, thus, build wider social connections across age, race, gender, geography, and social class boundaries [ 70 ]. Moreover, these enlarged social networks also create positive spillover effects in other aspects, improving people’s welfare. For example, people can use social media to communicate with others on health topics, which helps them become more health-conscious and intrinsically motivated to participate in physical exercises [ 69 ]. Therefore, online social connections contribute to improving people’s well-being, as well as promoting interpersonal communication and interactions [ 71 , 91 ].

Based on the complementarity aspects of Internet usage, Hypothesis 2 can be proposed:

The more hours people use the Internet, the more time they spend on interpersonal communications.

4. Data and Measures

4.1. data source.

The data used in this paper come from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), one of the most important and nationally representative academic surveys in China. The CGSS aims to systematically and comprehensively investigate the social and economic situations of the Chinese people. CGSS is part of the world General Social Survey group and the sampling of CGSS is based on a multi-stage stratified design. The National Survey Research Center at the Renmin University of China (NSRC) has organized the Chinese Social Survey Network (CSSN), including 49 universities and provincial social science academies. Detailed information regarding CGSS can be accessed via http://cgss.ruc.edu.cn/English/Home.htm (accessed on 25 September 2022). The reason for using CGSS is mainly due to its three advantages. First, CGSS surveys people’s interpersonal communication and the factors influencing it in the extension module, which is a convenient way to construct the explained variables and control variables. Second, CGSS contains information on the respondents’ habits of Internet usage, which facilitates the construction of an explanatory variable for this research. Third, CGSS contains the ISCO-2008 (International Standard Classification of Occupations, 2008) codes of the respondents’ occupations, which helps us construct an instrumental variable, based on job characteristics, to deal with the endogeneity problem. Since the key explained and explanatory variables used in this paper are only available in the extension module of CGSS in 2017, the 2017-wave dataset is used for this research.

4.2. Measures

The main explained variable in this paper is the time spent on interpersonal communication by the respondents. Communication with family members and friends is most important in people’s daily interactions [ 75 , 76 ]; therefore, we constructed indicators for communications with family and friends, denoted as “family communication” and “friends communication”, respectively. The two variables come from the following questions in CGSS’s extension module, “How many hours do you spend on communicating with your family per week on average?” and “How many hours do you spend on communicating with your friends per week on average?”, respectively. In the robustness analysis, other indicators of interpersonal communications were also constructed. The explanatory variable of this paper is the time spent using the Internet, denoted as “Internet usage”. This variable is derived from the respondents’ answers to the question: “How many hours do you use the Internet per week on average?”.

Based on the relevant literature concerning the factors influencing interpersonal communications [ 61 , 62 ], in order to avoid the bias of omitted variables, this paper controls those factors related to interpersonal communications as comprehensively as possible in the following six aspects. (1) Basic demographic characteristics, including gender, age and the squared term of age. (2) Working characteristics, including personal income, whether the participant is working in the system and whether they have a pension and medical insurance. (3) Human capital characteristics, including educational level and health status. (4) Social characteristics, including whether the participant belongs to any ethnic minorities, have certain religious beliefs, or if they are a Communist Party of China (CPC) member. (5) Family characteristics include family size and the number of children. (6) Regional characteristics include provincial dummies. Detailed descriptions and statistics of the above variables are given in Table 1 .

Summary statistics.

Notes: The education level is classified from 1 to 13: 1—without any education, 2—kindergarten, 3—primary school, 4—junior high school, 5—vocational high school, 6—ordinary high school, 7—technical secondary school, 8—technical high school, 9—junior college (adult education), 10—junior college (regular education), 11—undergraduate (adult education), 12—undergraduate (regular education), 13—postgraduate and above. Health status is based on the self-rated health levels from 1 to 5: 1—very unhealthy, 2—relatively unhealthy, 3—medium, 4—relatively healthy, 5—very healthy.

5.1. Benchmark Results

To investigate the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal communications, this paper first constructs the following ordinary least squares (OLS) benchmark econometric model.

In model (1), I n t e r p e r s o n a l _ c o m m u n i c a t i o n i and I n t e r n e t _ u s a g e i represent the time spent on interpersonal communications and Internet usage, respectively, by the respondent, i . The time spent on communicating with family and friends is used to characterize I n t e r p e r s o n a l _ c o m m u n i c a t i o n i . x i ′ is the vector of the series of control variables described above. d p is the provincial fixed effect. This paper estimates the relationship between interpersonal communications and Internet usage with this model.

Table 2 shows the regression results, based on the above OLS model. Columns (1)–(3) demonstrate the results of the estimations concerning communicating with family members and columns (4)–(6) are estimated results concerning communicating with friends. It is clear that Internet usage is significantly and positively related to the time spent on communications with both family members and friends. Here, we conduct regression analysis by sequentially including the controls of different characteristics, with the aim of exploring whether the relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal communications is affected by other factors. Table 1 shows that, by gradually adding control variables from different aspects, the estimated coefficients of Internet use are stable at around 0.095 and 0.051 for the two explained variables, respectively. Moreover, all the estimates are significantly positive at the 1% level. This suggests that the more time people spend on the Internet, the more time they spend interacting with family and friends, supporting Hypothesis 2. It also means that the significant correlation between Internet usage and interpersonal interactions is not affected by other factors and is very robust. The above results prove that Internet usage does not lead to greater alienation among people. On the contrary, the Internet significantly enhances interpersonal communications.

Benchmark results.

Notes: ***, **, and * indicate significance at the levels of 1%, 5%, and 10%, respectively. The values in parentheses are standard errors robust to heteroskedasticity. ‘Yes’ means the corresponding variables are controlled in the regression, while ‘No’ means they are not controlled.

In addition, the benchmark estimates also show that the effect of the Internet on interpersonal interactions is very notable. Holding other factors constant, for each one-standard-deviation increase in Internet usage (17.921 h per week), the weekly communication with family members increases by an average of 102.150 min (17.921 × 0.095 × 60), while there is an average increase of 54.838 min in interactions with friends. This demonstrates that while Internet usage has significantly positive effects on communications with both family and friends, it plays a more prominent role in facilitating interactions among family members.

5.2. Robustness and Endogeneity Checks

In order to examine the robustness of the relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal communications, and to tackle potential endogeneity problems, this paper conducts a series of robustness and endogeneity checks.

5.2.1. Using the Poisson Model

Considering the fact that the dependent variables, which represent the time spent on communicating with family and friends, are discrete non-negative integers and fit the Poisson distribution, we use the Poisson model to conduct the robustness test. Table 3 shows that when using the Poisson model for communications with both family and friends, the estimated coefficients of Internet usage are all significantly positive at the 1% level. In addition, with the controlling characteristics as different aspects, the estimated coefficients of Internet usage fluctuate slightly but are generally very stable. This further confirms that our findings regarding Internet usage promoting people’s interpersonal communications do not rely on the selection of the OLS model.

Robustness checks using the Poisson model.

Notes: *** indicate significance at the levels of 1%, respectively. The values in parentheses are standard errors robust to heteroskedasticity. ‘Yes’ means the corresponding variables are controlled in the regression, while ‘No’ means they are not controlled.

5.2.2. Using Other Indicators of Interpersonal Communication

In benchmark regression, we use the time spent on communications with family and friends to characterize interpersonal interaction. However, there may be measurement errors in some people’s perceptions of time. Furthermore, communication time may not adequately characterize the frequency of interpersonal communications. Based on this theory, to test the robustness of the findings, this paper further uses the frequencies of communication with family and friends as dependent variables, denoted as “Family communication frequency” and “Friends communication frequency”. These are derived from the respondents’ responses to “How often do you keep in touch with your family, on average?” and “How often do you keep in touch with your friends, on average?”. Answers are classified based on an eight-level scale from 1 to 8, representing “never”, “rarely”, “several times a year”, “once a month”, “2–3 times a month”, “once a week”, “several times a week”, and “every day”, respectively. Since they are ordered and explained variables for which the disparities between different levels of the scale are not equivalent, ordered Probit (Oprobit) and Logit (Ologit) models, as well as the OLS model, are used for estimation. The regression results are shown in Table 4 . It is clear that when using these kinds of dependent variables to measure interpersonal communications, and no matter which model is applied, Internet usage has a significantly positive effect on the frequency of people’s interactions with family and friends, which further confirms the robustness of the findings.

Robustness checks, using other indicators of interpersonal communications.

5.2.3. Endogeneity Tests

There may be endogeneity problems in the benchmark estimates, therefore, the significant relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal communications may be a correlation rather than causality. The endogeneity problems may result from two aspects, comprising reverse causality and omitted variable bias. Regarding reverse causality, we suggest that people may use the Internet more frequently because they are more willing to communicate with family members and friends. For example, individuals who live alone, who frequently travel and migrate, may use the Internet because of the need to communicate remotely with their friends and family. With respect to omitted variable bias, although we have controlled as comprehensively as possible those elements that affect interpersonal communications, there may still be factors that are difficult to characterize. In order to examine the causal relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal interactions and to tackle potential endogeneity problems, the following instrumental variable models are applied for carrying out further checks.

A I i is the instrumental variable, which is the degree of artificial intelligence’s application in an individual, i ’s, work. Model (2) performs first-stage regression, using A I i to estimate I n t e r n e t _ u s a g e i . In model (3), second-stage regression is conducted to examine the effect of Internet usage on interpersonal communications, using the predicted values in the first-stage estimation. The A I i indicator comes from Mihaylov and Tijden [ 92 ]. Existing studies have shown that the higher the application of artificial intelligence in their work, the higher the requirements for people’s skills in using the Internet [ 93 ], and thus, the more likely they are to show increased Internet usage. Therefore, the instrumental variable satisfies the correlation requirement. In addition, since artificial intelligence is an exogenous technological change and is, thus, not related to micro individual characteristics, this variable satisfies the exogeneity condition. As shown in Table 5 , results of the instrumental variable method with the two-stage least square (2SLS) method robustly prove that Internet usage has significantly positive impacts on interactions with family members and friends. This means that the significant relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal communications is causal rather than being a simple correlation.

Endogeneity tests: impacts on communications using an instrumental variable.

Notes: *** and ** indicate significance at the levels of 1% and 5%, respectively. The values in parentheses are standard errors robust to heteroskedasticity. ‘Yes’ means the corresponding variables are controlled in the regression, while ‘No’ means they are not controlled.

5.2.4. Missing Data Imputation

There are missing data in this research, with a missing rate of (3740−3507)/3740 = 6.223%. Although it seems that the missing rate is not high, missing data may cause sample selection problems, leading to biased and inconsistent statistical results, because the information may be missing but not at random. Considering that the dataset is cross-sectional rather than longitudinal and when referring to Ibrahim and Molenberghs [ 94 ], Kropko et al. [ 95 ], and Baraldi and Enders [ 96 ], we further tested whether the findings of this paper could be affected by the missing data problem, applying the following widely accepted approach. Specifically, we replace the missing values with the mean of the remaining values. Results using this approach are shown in Table 6 and it is clear that they are consistent with the benchmark estimations in this paper.

Replacing the missing values with the mean of the remaining values (OLS model).

6. Further Discussions

6.1. effects of internet usage on loneliness.

It has been confirmed in the sections above that Internet usage facilitates communications with family and friends. Furthermore, studies have shown that interpersonal communications are beneficial to increasing social support and reducing people’s loneliness [ 97 , 98 , 99 ]. Therefore, we are interested in whether Internet usage helps to reduce loneliness by increasing people’s interpersonal contacts. To test this hypothesis, we use an indicator to characterize loneliness, denoted as “Lonely”. It is taken from respondents’ answers to the question “I feel lonely”, which is based on the Likert scale from 1–5, representing “never”, “seldom”, “sometimes”, “often”, and “frequently”. The larger the values of the two variables, the higher the level of loneliness.

The first columns in Table 7 demonstrate the effect of Internet usage on loneliness, wherein the estimated coefficients of Internet usage are all significantly negative. This indicates that Internet usage significantly reduces loneliness. Meanwhile, columns (2) and (4) in Table 7 are the regression results of the impacts of Internet usage on communication with family members and friends, which are consistent with those in Table 3 . Columns (3) and (5) present the results for when the indicators of family communication and friends communication are further included in regressions. The estimated results in column (3) of Table 7 show that communication with friends does not significantly affect people’s loneliness. However, in column (5), the estimates of family communication are significantly negative at the 1% level, implying that interactions with family help to decrease loneliness. At the same time, after the mediating variables, interpersonal communications are included in the regression, where the estimated coefficients of Internet usage remain significantly negative. Additionally, in column (5) of Table 7 , the absolute values of the Internet usage estimates decrease, further proving that communication with family members plays a mediating role between using the Internet and loneliness. This implies that Internet usage reduces the feeling of loneliness by facilitating communication among family members. Family members are particularly important for Chinese people and the Chinese culture; therefore, relationships among family members have a more prominent impact on personal feelings [ 100 ]. Thus, compared with communication with friends, contacts with family members mediate the impact of the Internet in reducing loneliness more significantly.

Further impacts on loneliness.

6.2. Effects of Internet Usage in the Other Aspects

The above analysis shows the positive impact of the Internet on interpersonal communications, but it is not correct to assume that this usage has only a positive dimension. Further analysis using CGSS data, as shown in column (1) of Table 8 , demonstrates that the more time people spend online, the easier it is to get addicted to the Internet, resulting in spending a longer time online than was planned. In addition, people who frequently use the Internet are more likely to feel anxious if they do not go online for a while (column (2) in Table 8 ). This is consistent with the existing studies, reporting that people tend to have difficulty controlling their time, and it is easier for them to become addicted to the Internet and the online world [ 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. Furthermore, we find that going online reduces the amount of time people spend outdoors (column (3) in Table 8 ) and leads to more family complaints that they spend too much time online (column (4) in Table 8 ). Although we cannot directly verify the effect of Internet usage on face-to-face interpersonal communication, due to data availability, this is an indirect way to test whether Internet use reduces people’s face-to-face contact with the outside world and results in increased complaints from family members. Moreover, in terms of physical health, it was also found that more Internet usage also causes people to have worse eyesight (column (5) in Table 8 ), as well as neck and shoulder pain (column (6) in Table 8 ). The above analysis is based on six Likert 5-point scale variables from the responses to the question, “How do the following descriptions fit your situation?”: “I often spend more time online than I planned”, “If I don’t go online for a while, I will be anxious and restless”, “I spend less time outdoors because of using the Internet”, “My family complains that I spend too much time online”, “My eyesight has become worse because of using the Internet”, “I have neck and shoulder pain because of using the Internet”. Their responses are: “1—very untrue of me”, “2—untrue of me”, “3—neutral”, “4—true of me”, and “5—very true of me”.

Other effects of internet usage (overlong usage and anxiety).

7. Heterogeneity Analysis

This paper further examines the heterogeneities of the impact of Internet usage on communications in different subgroups. First, in terms of the purposes of Internet usage, it is naturally hypothesized that if people use the Internet mainly for working or entertainment, rather than for interpersonal contact, then Internet usage should have no significant effect on their communications with family members and friends. This hypothesis is tested as follows. Specifically, this research divides the sample into subgroups, with different degrees of online social interactions and different preferences for online self-presentation, based on whether respondents frequently use social networking sites (including email, QQ, WeChat, Skype, etc.) to communicate with others, and whether they often post their updates on the social platforms (including WeChat, Moments, Qzone, Weibo, etc.). The regression results of Table 9 show that the impacts of Internet usage on communication with family and friends are only significant among those who often use the Internet to socialize, confirming the above hypothesis. In addition, posting updates regarding life and work via Internet social platforms also brings more online contacts. Table 10 shows that for individuals with a greater online presence, the positive effect of Internet usage on interpersonal communications is more pronounced. This means that for people who are more socially connected to the Internet, online activities significantly promote their interpersonal contacts. The heterogeneity results in this aspect also demonstrate that online social contact facilitates communications with family and friends and further confirm the robustness of the findings of this paper.

Heterogeneity analysis, in terms of online contacts.

Heterogeneity analysis in terms of online posts.

Furthermore, considering that communications via the Internet require certain online skills, it is naturally hypothesized that for individuals with better Internet skills, Internet usage should be more conducive to improving their interpersonal communication. This paper conducts a heterogeneity test for this hypothesis. According to whether the respondents are able to communicate with others proficiently online (the corresponding question in the CGSS questionnaire is: “Do you know how to express your thoughts and proficiently communicate with others online?”), the following subsample analysis is performed. The estimated results in columns (1) and (2) of Table 11 show that in terms of communications with family members, the positive effects of Internet usage are greater and are only statistically significant for those with more online skills. Columns (3) and (4) of Table 11 demonstrate that in terms of communications with friends, the role of Internet usage is significant for the two subgroups, but the estimated coefficient is larger for individuals skilled in online communications. This confirms that the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal contacts is more pronounced for people with better online skills.

Heterogeneity analysis, in terms of Internet skills.

Notes: *** and * indicate significance at the levels of 1% and 10%, respectively. The values in parentheses are standard errors robust to heteroskedasticity. ‘Yes’ means the corresponding variables are controlled in the regression, while ‘No’ means they are not controlled.

Moreover, it has been shown in the existing literature that there are disparities in Internet usage and interpersonal communication among individuals of different ages and educational backgrounds [ 34 , 47 , 61 ]. Therefore, we further examine the heterogeneities of the impacts of Internet usage in the different subgroups, with different demographic characteristics. Table 12 shows that the impacts of Internet usage on communications with family and friends are significantly positive for both younger and older respondents. However, their effect is greater on the younger group under the age of 35, which may be due to the fact that young people are more inclined to use new online applications and are more skilled in Internet use. Therefore, the positive effect of Internet usage is more prominent in the younger cohort. The mean time of Internet usage for young individuals under 35 in CGSS is 23.59, which is much greater than that of their older counterparts, which is 7.56.

Heterogeneity analysis, in terms of age.

The results of the heterogeneity analysis in terms of education level are shown in Table 13 . It is demonstrated that regardless of whether the respondents have a bachelor’s degree or above, the positive effect of Internet usage on interpersonal communications is significant. However, the Internet’s impact is more pronounced for those with higher educational levels. This may be due to the fact that the more educated groups have greater opportunities to learn and master the skills of using the Internet. In the CGSS sample, the average time of Internet usage among people with higher educational levels is much higher than the lower educated respondents (25.03 > 9.70).

Heterogeneity analysis, in terms of education level.

In addition, in terms of regional heterogeneity, it is clear from Table 14 that the impact of Internet usage on communications with family and friends is more prominent for urban residents. Compared with their rural counterparts, urban residents are more familiar with the Internet in their work and daily life, due to faster technological development and better network infrastructure. Therefore, the descriptive statistics for the two subsamples show that the mean hours of Internet usage for residents in rural and urban areas are 16.29 and 8.64, respectively.

Heterogeneity analysis in terms of region.

In addition, the Internet can help people to break geographical restrictions and realize remote communication, consequently shortening the distances between each other [ 19 ]. Therefore, it is natural to hypothesize that the role of Internet usage in facilitating communication may be more prominent for migrants. The regression results of Table 15 show that Internet usage has significant effects on promoting interpersonal communications, for both migrants and non-migrants. In particular, columns (1) and (2) show that in terms of family communication, the impact of Internet usage on migrants is more prominent than on non-migrants. However, columns (3) and (4) do not show a similar pattern in terms of communicating with friends. This is logical, since blood relationships among family members do not change due to migration, while friends can be found wherever you live. Migration leads to people moving further away from their families, geographically; consequently, the role of Internet usage in enhancing communications with family members is more prominent for migrants.

Heterogeneity analysis in terms of migration.

8. Conclusions

This paper empirically examines the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal communications with data from the Chinese General Social Survey to answer whether the Internet brings people closer together or further apart. The empirical results demonstrate that first, Internet usage helps to significantly increase the time and frequency of communications with family and friends, rather than causing people to feel more disconnected and isolated. This positive effect is robust when using various regression models and interpersonal contact measures, as well as the instrumental variable method. Specifically, the positive effects of Internet usage in promoting people’s interpersonal communications do not rely on the selection of regression models and are robustly significant regarding both the time that people spend on interactions, as well as the frequency of daily contacts. Furthermore, the relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal communications is proven to be causal rather than being a simple correlation, using the instrumental variable approach.

Second, Internet usage contributes to decreased loneliness, and it exerts this effect primarily by improving people’s interactions with their family members. However, communications with friends do not significantly mediate such impacts. This implies that the Internet reduces the feeling of loneliness by facilitating communication among family members, who are much more important in the Chinese culture, and therefore relationships among family members have a more important impact on personal feelings.

Third, the positive role of Internet usage on communications is more prominent for people with more frequent online socialization and self-presentation, higher online skills, younger age, higher educational levels and living in urban areas. In addition, the beneficial effects of Internet usage are larger on communications with family members for migrants. The reason may be that the blood relationships among family members do not change due to migration, while friends can be found anywhere.

9. Theoretical and Practical Implications

9.1. theoretical implications.

This paper clarifies the net effect of Internet usage on interpersonal communications. Research has shown that Internet technology has tremendously enriched communication channels and modes [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 87 , 89 ]. Moreover, compared with traditional communication methods, such as phone calls and text messages, the Internet helps people to establish a much wider social network and achieve effective remote communication at a lower cost, as well as with greater efficiency [ 69 , 70 , 90 , 101 ]. Nevertheless, other studies reveal that Internet usage may distract people’s attention [ 10 , 11 , 65 , 66 , 83 ], reduce their social skills [ 47 , 67 , 68 , 84 , 85 ], and may even increase negative emotions [ 10 , 11 , 53 , 73 , 86 ]. The impact of Internet usage in this aspect would hinder interpersonal communications. No direct evidence is provided on how the Internet influences interpersonal communications. Therefore, according to theoretical analyses based on the existing literature, the net effect of Internet usage on interpersonal contacts is still unclear because of the coexistence of the complementarity and interference aspects. This research contributes to the literature by clarifying that the net effect of Internet usage on interpersonal communications is positive. The more that people use the Internet, the more they can interact with their family and friends. This positive effect is confirmed via various endogeneity and robustness checks. This paper shows that although the Internet may have both pros and cons, its overall impact is positive regarding interpersonal communication.

In addition, this paper further verifies the role of the Internet in reducing people’s loneliness, which is an important factor affecting well-being. Loneliness not only leads to depression but also reduces people’s life satisfaction and overall well-being [ 102 , 103 ]. Interpersonal interaction is an important element impacting loneliness [ 104 ]. Since Internet usage promotes communication, a natural question arises regarding whether it helps to decrease loneliness through this mechanism. If this speculation holds true, the robustness of the conclusions in this paper would be confirmed further. The existing research demonstrates that the Internet has enriched interpersonal communication channels [ 105 ]. Moreover, other studies reveal that interactions can help reduce loneliness, improve people’s well-being, and decrease depression [ 89 , 91 , 106 ]. In this paper, we present our findings that Internet usage lowers loneliness by promoting people’s communications with family and friends. Therefore, this study also contributes to the literature by elucidating the mechanisms underlying the well-being and emotional benefits of Internet use [ 107 ].

Furthermore, compared with previous studies supporting the positive effects of Internet usage [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 87 , 89 ], we also find heterogeneities in its impact from multiple perspectives. It is clear that not everyone gains equally from Internet use. The positive role of the Internet on interpersonal communication is more prominent for people with more frequent online socialization and wider self-presentation, better online skills, a younger age, higher educational levels, and who are living in urban areas. Some subgroups benefit more from Internet usage, while those who have been left behind in the digital age gain less. Heterogeneity analysis enriches the literature on the impact of the Internet, helping us to better identify vulnerable groups in the Internet era and create effective public policies accordingly.

9.2. Practical Implications

With the rapid progress of online technology, traditional face-to-face communication is gradually shifting toward social networking via the Internet as people are becoming immersed in the digital age. The Internet not only drives economic development but also helps people to interact with each other at a lower cost and in a more convenient way. The policy implications of this paper include the following recommendations.

First, the network infrastructure should be improved and updated to make better use of the Internet, to facilitate interpersonal communication among people. In the fast-changing world of information, the Internet has provided people with more and more convenient communication channels. We should continue to make better use of more advanced Internet technologies and improve the quality of the network, in order to enhance people’s online experience. Emerging technologies, such as 5G, should be applied to help people obtain more convenient and cheaper access to the Internet to improve their interpersonal communication and enhance social welfare.

Second, this paper reports that the Internet promotes interpersonal contact, thereby weakening people’s sense of loneliness. Therefore, establishing high-quality online communities via social networks is needed to help people enhance their well-being through further interactions. For those who suffer from loneliness, providing them with better access to the Internet may be an effective way to enhance their welfare. From the perspective of mental health, loneliness is related to an increased risk of mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and even dementia. Therefore, it is worth recommending that sufferers use the Internet to enhance their communications with others. For people with communication difficulties, online interactions can help them overcome their fear and help them to get in touch with others, thus establishing better social networks [ 90 ].

Third, policymakers should pay more attention to vulnerable subgroups in the Internet age, including older people and those with poorer online skills, those who are less well-educated, and those living in rural areas. These groups gain fewer benefits from Internet usage. Therefore, it is important to help them master the necessary online skills and provide them with more convenient and less expensive access to the Internet. For example, the network coverage should be extended to more remote and rural areas and the Internet connectivity there needs to be improved so that as many people as possible have equal access to the Internet. In addition, with the rapid development of Internet technology, individuals with lower education levels and older age may not be able to update their Internet skills. This may mean that they are unable to gain the benefits of Internet usage in terms of interpersonal communication. Therefore, in the context of the rapid application of emerging online technologies, enhancing the Internet skills of these vulnerable subgroups should be emphasized.

10. Limitations

First, since CGSS data is based on subjective answers, both the explanatory and explained variables in this paper are subjective indicators and there may, thus, be measurement errors caused by subjectivity. Although different variables are used as dependent variables in the robustness checks, confirming the positive effect of Internet usage on interpersonal interactions, these measures are also subjective. Therefore, we look forward to further testing the relationship between Internet usage and interpersonal contacts based on objective indicators in the future.

Second, as CGSS does not provide detailed information concerning the amount of time that people spend on the Internet for various purposes, we are unable to examine the effects of different types of online activities on interpersonal communications. In this regard, if people use the Internet mainly for working or for entertainment, rather than for interpersonal contacts, then online activities may well have a different effect on their communications with family members and friends. In the heterogeneity analysis, this research divided the sample into subgroups with different degrees of online social interactions and different preferences for online self-presentation. The results show that the impacts of Internet usage on communication with family and friends are only significant among those who habitually use the Internet to socialize and post updates. This indirectly examines the impact of different types of Internet usage on communications. We look forward to further investigating this issue in the future, on the basis of more detailed online data.

Third, this paper examines the impact of Internet usage on interpersonal communications in general. However, it is still not clear how Internet usage affects people’s face-to-face interactions. Due to data limitations, we are unable to directly test the quality of offline personal relationships, for example, changes in conversational topics, the willingness to broach topics discussed on the Internet, and the inclination to reveal true thoughts in a face-to-face relationship. The effects of Internet use on the quality of offline communications will be a very valuable research direction in the future.

Funding Statement

This research was funded by the Humanities and Social Science Research Project of the Ministry of Education of China (grant number 19YJC790055); the Project of the Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71973081); the Project of the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (grant number ZR2020QG038); the Project of the Social Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (grant number 19DJJJ08), and the Project of Teaching Reform of Shandong University (grant number Y2022007).

Author Contributions

C.L. contributed to the conception and design of the study and performed the statistical analysis. Y.X. generated the tables and figures, respectively, based on C.L.’s analysis. C.L. wrote the first draft of the manuscript. G.N., K.G. and Q.L. worked on revisions of the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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11.4 The Effects of the Internet and Globalization on Popular Culture and Interpersonal Communication

Learning objectives.

• Describe the effects of globalization on culture.
• Identify the possible effects of news migrating to the Internet.
• Define the Internet paradox.

It’s in the name: World Wide Web . The Internet has broken down communication barriers between cultures in a way that could only be dreamed of in earlier generations. Now, almost any news service across the globe can be accessed on the Internet and, with the various translation services available (like Babelfish and Google Translate), be relatively understandable. In addition to the spread of American culture throughout the world, smaller countries are now able to cheaply export culture, news, entertainment, and even propaganda.

The Internet has been a key factor in driving globalization in recent years. Many jobs can now be outsourced entirely via the Internet. Teams of software programmers in India can have a website up and running in very little time, for far less money than it would take to hire American counterparts. Communicating with these teams is now as simple as sending e-mails and instant messages back and forth, and often the most difficult aspect of setting up an international video conference online is figuring out the time difference. Especially for electronic services such as software, outsourcing over the Internet has greatly reduced the cost to develop a professionally coded site.

Electronic Media and the Globalization of Culture

The increase of globalization has been an economic force throughout the last century, but economic interdependency is not its only by-product. At its core, globalization is the lowering of economic and cultural impediments to communication between countries all over the globe. Globalization in the sphere of culture and communication can take the form of access to foreign newspapers (without the difficulty of procuring a printed copy) or, conversely, the ability of people living in previously closed countries to communicate experiences to the outside world relatively cheaply.

TV, especially satellite TV, has been one of the primary ways for American entertainment to reach foreign shores. This trend has been going on for some time now, for example, with the launch of MTV Arabia (Arango, 2008). American popular culture is, and has been, a crucial export.

At the Eisenhower Fellowship Conference in Singapore in 2005, U.S. ambassador Frank Lavin gave a defense of American culture that differed somewhat from previous arguments. It would not be all Starbucks, MTV, or Baywatch , he said, because American culture is more diverse than that. Instead, he said that “America is a nation of immigrants,” and asked, “When Mel Gibson or Jackie Chan come to the United States to produce a movie, whose culture is being exported (Lavin, 2005)?” This idea of a truly globalized culture—one in which content can be distributed as easily as it can be received—now has the potential to be realized through the Internet. While some political and social barriers still remain, from a technological standpoint there is nothing to stop the two-way flow of information and culture across the globe.

China, Globalization, and the Internet

The scarcity of artistic resources, the time lag of transmission to a foreign country, and censorship by the host government are a few of the possible impediments to transmission of entertainment and culture. China provides a valuable example of the ways the Internet has helped to overcome (or highlight) all three of these hurdles.

China, as the world’s most populous country and one of its leading economic powers, has considerable clout when it comes to the Internet. In addition, the country is ruled by a single political party that uses censorship extensively in an effort to maintain control. Because the Internet is an open resource by nature, and because China is an extremely well-connected country—with 22.5 percent (roughly 300 million people, or the population of the entire United States) of the country online as of 2008 (Google, 2010)—China has been a case study in how the Internet makes resistance to globalization increasingly difficult.

Figure 11.7

China has more Internet users than any other country.

On January 21, 2010, Hillary Clinton gave a speech in front of the Newseum in Washington, DC, where she said, “We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas (Ryan & Halper, 2010).” That same month, Google decided it would stop censoring search results on Google.cn, its Chinese-language search engine, as a result of a serious cyber-attack on the company originating in China. In addition, Google stated that if an agreement with the Chinese government could not be reached over the censorship of search results, Google would pull out of China completely. Because Google has complied (albeit uneasily) with the Chinese government in the past, this change in policy was a major reversal.

Withdrawing from one of the largest expanding markets in the world is shocking coming from a company that has been aggressively expanding into foreign markets. This move highlights the fundamental tension between China’s censorship policy and Google’s core values. Google’s company motto, “Don’t be evil,” had long been at odds with its decision to censor search results in China. Google’s compliance with the Chinese government did not help it make inroads into the Chinese Internet search market—although Google held about a quarter of the market in China, most of the search traffic went to the tightly controlled Chinese search engine Baidu. However, Google’s departure from China would be a blow to antigovernment forces in the country. Since Baidu has a closer relationship with the Chinese government, political dissidents tend to use Google’s Gmail, which uses encrypted servers based in the United States. Google’s threat to withdraw from China raises the possibility that globalization could indeed hit roadblocks due to the ways that foreign governments may choose to censor the Internet.

New Media: Internet Convergence and American Society

One only needs to go to CNN’s official Twitter feed and begin to click random faces in the “Following” column to see the effect of media convergence through the Internet. Hundreds of different options abound, many of them individual journalists’ Twitter feeds, and many of those following other journalists. Considering CNN’s motto, “The most trusted name in network news,” its presence on Twitter might seem at odds with providing in-depth, reliable coverage. After all, how in-depth can 140 characters get?

The truth is that many of these traditional media outlets use Twitter not as a communication tool in itself, but as a way to allow viewers to aggregate a large amount of information they may have missed. Instead of visiting multiple home pages to see the day’s top stories from multiple viewpoints, Twitter users only have to check their own Twitter pages to get updates from all the organizations they “follow.” Media conglomerates then use Twitter as part of an overall integration of media outlets; the Twitter feed is there to support the news content, not to report the content itself.

Internet-Only Sources

The threshold was crossed in 2008: The Internet overtook print media as a primary source of information for national and international news in the U.S. Television is still far in the lead, but especially among younger demographics, the Internet is quickly catching up as a way to learn about the day’s news. With 40 percent of the public receiving their news from the Internet (see Figure 11.8 ) (Pew Research Center for the People, 2008), media outlets have been scrambling to set up large presences on the web. Yet one of the most remarkable shifts has been in the establishment of online-only news sources.

Figure 11.8

Americans now receive more national and international news from the Internet than they do from newspapers.

The conventional argument claims that the anonymity and the echo chamber of the Internet undermine worthwhile news reporting, especially for topics that are expensive to report on. The ability of large news organizations to put reporters in the field is one of their most important contributions and (because of its cost) is often one of the first things to be cut back during times of budget problems. However, as the Internet has become a primary news source for more and more people, new media outlets—publications existing entirely online—have begun to appear.

In 2006, two reporters for the Washington Post , John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei, left the newspaper to start a politically centered website called Politico. Rather than simply repeating the day’s news in a blog, they were determined to start a journalistically viable news organization on the web. Four years later, the site has over 6,000,000 unique monthly visitors and about a hundred staff members, and there is now a Politico reporter on almost every White House trip (Wolff, 2009).

Far from being a collection of amateurs trying to make it big on the Internet, Politico’s senior White House correspondent is Mike Allen, who previously wrote for The New York Times , Washington Post , and Time . His daily Playbook column appears at around 7 a.m. each morning and is read by much of the politically centered media. The different ways that Politico reaches out to its supporters—blogs, Twitter feeds, regular news articles, and now even a print edition—show how media convergence has even occurred within the Internet itself. The interactive nature of its services and the active comment boards on the site also show how the media have become a two-way street: more of a public forum than a straight news service.

“Live” From New York …

Top-notch political content is not the only medium moving to the Internet, however. Saturday Night Live ( SNL ) has built an entire entertainment model around its broadcast time slot. Every weekend, around 11:40 p.m. on Saturday, someone interrupts a skit, turns toward the camera, shouts “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” and the band starts playing. Yet the show’s sketch comedy style also seems to lend itself to the watch-anytime convenience of the Internet. In fact, the online TV service Hulu carries a full eight episodes of SNL at any given time, with regular 3.5-minute commercial breaks replaced by Hulu-specific minute-long advertisements. The time listed for an SNL episode on Hulu is just over an hour—a full half-hour less than the time it takes to watch it live on Saturday night.

Hulu calls its product “online premium video,” primarily because of its desire to attract not the YouTube amateur, but rather a partnership of large media organizations. Although many networks, like NBC and Comedy Central, stream video on their websites, Hulu builds its business by offering a legal way to see all these shows on the same site; a user can switch from South Park to SNL with a single click, rather than having to move to a different website.

Premium Online Video Content

Hulu’s success points to a high demand among Internet users for a wide variety of content collected and packaged in one easy-to-use interface. Hulu was rated the Website of the Year by the Associated Press (Coyle, 2008) and even received an Emmy nomination for a commercial featuring Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, the stars of the NBC comedy 30 Rock (Neil, 2009). Hulu’s success has not been the product of the usual dot-com underdog startup, however. Its two parent companies, News Corporation and NBC Universal, are two of the world’s media giants. In many ways, this was a logical step for these companies to take after fighting online video for so long. In December 2005, the video “Lazy Sunday,” an SNL digital short featuring Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell, went viral with over 5,000,000 views on YouTube before February 2006, when NBC demanded that YouTube take down the video (Biggs, 2006). NBC later posted the video on Hulu, where it could sell advertising for it.

Hulu allows users to break out of programming models controlled by broadcast and cable TV providers and choose freely what shows to watch and when to watch them. This seems to work especially well for cult programs that are no longer available on TV. In 2008, the show Arrested Development , which was canceled in 2006 after repeated time slot shifts, was Hulu’s second-most-popular program.

Hulu certainly seems to have leveled the playing field for some shows that have had difficulty finding an audience through traditional means. 30 Rock , much like Arrested Development , suffered from a lack of viewers in its early years. In 2008, New York Magazine described the show as a “fragile suckling that critics coddle but that America never quite warms up to (Sternbergh, 2008).” However, even as 30 Rock shifted time slots mid-season, its viewer base continued to grow through the NBC partner of Hulu. The nontraditional media approach of NBC’s programming culminated in October 2008, when NBC decided to launch the new season of 30 Rock on Hulu a full week before it was broadcast over the airwaves (Wortham, 2008). Hulu’s strategy of providing premium online content seems to have paid off: As of March 2011, Hulu provided 143,673,000 viewing sessions to more than 27 million unique visitors, according to Nielsen (ComScore, 2011).

Unlike other “premium” services, Hulu does not charge for its content; rather, the word premium in its slogan seems to imply that it could charge for content if it wanted to. Other platforms, like Sony’s PlayStation 3, block Hulu for this very reason—Sony’s online store sells the products that Hulu gives away for free. However, Hulu has been considering moving to a paid subscription model that would allow users to access its entire back catalog of shows. Like many other fledgling web enterprises, Hulu seeks to create reliable revenue streams to avoid the fate of many of the companies that folded during the dot-com crash (Sandoval, 2009).

Like Politico, Hulu has packaged professionally produced content into an on-demand web service that can be used without the normal constraints of traditional media. Just as users can comment on Politico articles (and now, on most newspapers’ articles), they can rate Hulu videos, and Hulu will take this into account. Even when users do not produce the content themselves, they still want this same “two-way street” service.

Table 11.2 Top 10 U.S. Online Video Brands, Home and Work

The Role of the Internet in Social Alienation

In the early years, the Internet was stigmatized as a tool for introverts to avoid “real” social interactions, thereby increasing their alienation from society. Yet the Internet was also seen as the potentially great connecting force between cultures all over the world. The idea that something that allowed communication across the globe could breed social alienation seemed counterintuitive. The American Psychological Association (APA) coined this concept the “ Internet paradox .”

Studies like the APA’s “Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being (Kraut, et. al., 1998)?” which came out in 1998, suggested that teens who spent lots of time on the Internet showed much greater rates of self-reported loneliness and other signs of psychological distress. Even though the Internet had been around for a while by 1998, the increasing concern among parents was that teenagers were spending all their time in chat rooms and online. The fact was that teenagers spent much more time on the Internet than adults, due to their increased free time, curiosity, and familiarity with technology.

However, this did not necessarily mean that “kids these days” were antisocial or that the Internet caused depression and loneliness. In his critical analysis “Deconstructing the Internet Paradox,” computer scientist, writer, and PhD recipient from Carnegie Mellon University Joseph M. Newcomer points out that the APA study did not include a control group to adjust for what may be normal “lonely” feelings in teenagers. Again, he suggests that “involvement in any new, self-absorbing activity which has opportunity for failure can increase depression,” seeing Internet use as just another time-consuming hobby, much like learning a musical instrument or playing chess (Newcomer, 2000).

The general concept that teenagers were spending all their time in chat rooms and online forums instead of hanging out with flesh-and-blood friends was not especially new; the same thing had generally been thought of the computer hobbyists who pioneered the esoteric Usenet. However, the concerns were amplified when a wider range of young people began using the Internet, and the trend was especially strong in the younger demographics.

The “Internet Paradox” and Facebook

As they developed, it became quickly apparent that the Internet generation did not suffer from perpetual loneliness as a rule. After all, the generation that was raised on instant messaging invented Facebook and still makes up most of Facebook’s audience. As detailed earlier in the chapter, Facebook began as a service limited to college students—a requirement that practically excluded older participants. As a social tool and as a reflection of the way younger people now connect with each other over the Internet, Facebook has provided a comprehensive model for the Internet’s effect on social skills and especially on education.

A study by the Michigan State University Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media has shown that college-age Facebook users connect with offline friends twice as often as they connect with purely online “friends (Ellison, et. al., 2007).” In fact, 90 percent of the participants in the study reported that high school friends, classmates, and other friends were the top three groups that their Facebook profiles were directed toward.

In 2007, when this study took place, one of Facebook’s most remarkable tools for studying the ways that young people connect was its “networks” feature. Originally, a Facebook user’s network consisted of all the people at his or her college e-mail domain: the “mycollege” portion of “[email protected].” The MSU study, performed in April 2006, just 6 months after Facebook opened its doors to high school students, found that first-year students met new people on Facebook 36 percent more often than seniors did. These freshmen, in April 2006, were not as active on Facebook as high schoolers (Facebook began allowing high schoolers on its site during these students’ first semester in school) (Rosen, 2005). The study concluded that they could “definitively state that there is a positive relationship between certain kinds of Facebook use and the maintenance and creation of social capital (Ellison, et. al., 2007).” In other words, even though the study cannot show whether Facebook use causes or results from social connections, it can say that Facebook plays both an important and a nondestructive role in the forming of social bonds.

Although this study provides a complete and balanced picture of the role that Facebook played for college students in early 2006, there have been many changes in Facebook’s design and in its popularity. In 2006, many of a user’s “friends” were from the same college, and the whole college network might be mapped as a “friend-of-a-friend” web. If users allowed all people within a single network access to their profiles, it would create a voluntary school-wide directory of students. Since a university e-mail address was required for signup, there was a certain level of trust. The results of this Facebook study, still relatively current in terms of showing the Internet’s effects on social capital, show that not only do social networking tools not lead to more isolation, but that they actually have become integral to some types of networking.

However, as Facebook began to grow and as high school and regional networks (such as “New York City” or “Ireland”) were incorporated, users’ networks of friends grew exponentially, and the networking feature became increasingly unwieldy for privacy purposes. In 2009, Facebook discontinued regional networks over concerns that networks consisting of millions of people were “no longer the best way for you to control your privacy (Zuckerberg, 2009).” Where privacy controls once consisted of allowing everyone at one’s college access to specific information, Facebook now allows only three levels: friends, friends of friends, and everyone.

Meetup.com : Meeting Up “IRL”

Of course, not everyone on teenagers’ online friends lists are actually their friends outside of the virtual world. In the parlance of the early days of the Internet, meeting up “IRL” (shorthand for “in real life”) was one of the main reasons that many people got online. This practice was often looked at with suspicion by those not familiar with it, especially because of the anonymity of the Internet. The fear among many was that children would go into chat rooms and agree to meet up in person with a total stranger, and that stranger would turn out to have less-than-friendly motives. This fear led to law enforcement officers posing as underage girls in chat rooms, agreeing to meet for sex with older men (after the men brought up the topic—the other way around could be considered entrapment), and then arresting the men at the agreed-upon meeting spot.

In recent years, however, the Internet has become a hub of activity for all sorts of people. In 2002, Scott Heiferman started Meetup.com based on the “simple idea of using the Internet to get people off the Internet (Heiferman, 2009).” The entire purpose of Meetup.com is not to foster global interaction and collaboration (as is the purpose of something like Usenet,) but rather to allow people to organize locally. There are Meetups for politics (popular during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign), for New Yorkers who own Boston terriers (Fairbanks, 2008), for vegan cooking, for board games, and for practically everything else. Essentially, the service (which charges a small fee to Meetup organizers) separates itself from other social networking sites by encouraging real-life interaction. Whereas a member of a Facebook group may never see or interact with fellow members, Meetup.com actually keeps track of the (self-reported) real-life activity of its groups—ideally, groups with more activity are more desirable to join. However much time these groups spend together on or off the Internet, one group of people undoubtedly has the upper hand when it comes to online interaction: World of Warcraft players.

World of Warcraft : Social Interaction Through Avatars

A writer for Time states the reasons for the massive popularity of online role-playing games quite well: “[My generation’s] assumptions were based on the idea that video games would never grow up. But no genre has worked harder to disprove that maxim than MMORPGs—Massively Multiplayer Online Games (Coates, 2007).” World of Warcraft (WoW , for short) is the most popular MMORPG of all time, with over 11 million subscriptions and counting. The game is inherently social; players must complete “quests” in order to advance in the game, and many of the quests are significantly easier with multiple people. Players often form small, four-to five-person groups in the beginning of the game, but by the end of the game these larger groups (called “raiding parties”) can reach up to 40 players.

In addition, WoW provides a highly developed social networking feature called “guilds.” Players create or join a guild, which they can then use to band with other guilds in order to complete some of the toughest quests. “But once you’ve got a posse, the social dynamic just makes the game more addictive and time-consuming,” writes Clive Thompson for Slate (Thompson, 2005). Although these guilds do occasionally meet up in real life, most of their time together is spent online for hours per day (which amounts to quite a bit of time together), and some of the guild leaders profess to seeing real-life improvements. Joi Ito, an Internet business and investment guru, joined WoW long after he had worked with some of the most successful Internet companies; he says he “definitely (Pinckard, 2006)” learned new lessons about leadership from playing the game. Writer Jane Pinckard, for video game blog 1UP , lists some of Ito’s favorite activities as “looking after newbs [lower-level players] and pleasing the veterans,” which he calls a “delicate balancing act (Pinckard, 2006),” even for an ex-CEO.

Figure 11.9

Guilds often go on “raiding parties”—just one of the many semisocial activities in World of Warcraft .

monsieur paradis – gathering in Kargath before a raid – CC BY-NC 2.0.

With over 12 million subscribers, WoW necessarily breaks the boundaries of previous MMORPGs. The social nature of the game has attracted unprecedented numbers of female players (although men still make up the vast majority of players), and its players cannot easily be pegged as antisocial video game addicts. On the contrary, they may even be called social video game players, judging from the general responses given by players as to why they enjoy the game. This type of play certainly points to a new way of online interaction that may continue to grow in coming years.

Social Interaction on the Internet Among Low-Income Groups

In 2006, the journal Developmental Psychology published a study looking at the educational benefits of the Internet for teenagers in low-income households. It found that “children who used the Internet more had higher grade point averages (GPA) after one year and higher scores after standardized tests of reading achievement after six months than did children who used it less,” and that continuing to use the Internet more as the study went on led to an even greater increase in GPA and standardized test scores in reading (there was no change in mathematics test scores) (Jackson, et. al., 2006).

One of the most interesting aspects of the study’s results is the suggestion that the academic benefits may exclude low-performing children in low-income households. The reason for this, the study suggests, is that children in low-income households likely have a social circle consisting of other children from low-income households who are also unlikely to be connected to the Internet. As a result, after 16 months of Internet usage, only 16 percent of the participants were using e-mail and only 25 percent were using instant messaging services. Another reason researchers suggested was that because “African-American culture is historically an ‘oral culture,’” and 83 percent of the participants were African American, the “impersonal nature of the Internet’s typical communication tools” may have led participants to continue to prefer face-to-face contact. In other words, social interaction on the Internet can only happen if your friends are also on the Internet.

The Way Forward: Communication, Convergence, and Corporations

On February 15, 2010, the firm Compete, which analyzes Internet traffic, reported that Facebook surpassed Google as the No. 1 site to drive traffic toward news and entertainment media on both Yahoo! and MSN (Ingram, 2010). This statistic is a strong indicator that social networks are quickly becoming one of the most effective ways for people to sift through the ever-increasing amount of information on the Internet. It also suggests that people are content to get their news the way they did before the Internet or most other forms of mass media were invented—by word of mouth.

Many companies now use the Internet to leverage word-of-mouth social networking. The expansion of corporations into Facebook has given the service a big publicity boost, which has no doubt contributed to the growth of its user base, which in turn helps the corporations that put marketing efforts into the service. Putting a corporation on Facebook is not without risk; any corporation posting on Facebook runs the risk of being commented on by over 500 million users, and of course there is no way to ensure that those users will say positive things about the corporation. Good or bad, communicating with corporations is now a two-way street.

Key Takeaways

• The Internet has made pop culture transmission a two-way street. The power to influence popular culture no longer lies with the relative few with control over traditional forms of mass media; it is now available to the great mass of people with access to the Internet. As a result, the cross-fertilization of pop culture from around the world has become a commonplace occurrence.
• The Internet’s key difference from traditional media is that it does not operate on a set intervallic time schedule. It is not “periodical” in the sense that it comes out in daily or weekly editions; it is always updated. As a result, many journalists file both “regular” news stories and blog posts that may be updated and that can come at varied intervals as necessary. This allows them to stay up-to-date with breaking news without necessarily sacrificing the next day’s more in-depth story.
• The “Internet paradox” is the hypothesis that although the Internet is a tool for communication, many teenagers who use the Internet lack social interaction and become antisocial and depressed. It has been largely disproved, especially since the Internet has grown so drastically. Many sites, such as Meetup.com or even Facebook, work to allow users to organize for offline events. Other services, like the video game World of Warcraft , serve as an alternate social world.
• Make a list of ways you interact with friends, either in person or on the Internet. Are there particular methods of communication that only exist in person?
• Are there methods that exist on the Internet that would be much more difficult to replicate in person?
• How do these disprove the “Internet paradox” and contribute to the globalization of culture?
• Pick a method of in-person communication and a method of Internet communication, and compare and contrast these using a Venn diagram.

Arango, Tim. “World Falls for American Media, Even as It Sours on America,” New York Times , November 30, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/business/media/01soft.html .

Biggs, John. “A Video Clip Goes Viral, and a TV Network Wants to Control It,” New York Times , February 20, 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/business/media/20youtube.html .

Coates, Ta-Nehisi Paul. “Confessions of a 30-Year-Old Gamer,” Time , January 12, 2007, http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1577502,00.html .

ComScore, “ComScore release March 2011 US Online Video Rankings,” April 12, 2011, http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/4/ comScore_Releases_March_2011_U.S._Online_Video_Rankings .

Coyle, Jake. “On the Net: Hulu Is Web Site of the Year,” Seattle Times , December 19, 2008, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2008539776_aponthenetsiteoftheyear.html .

Ellison, Nicole B. Charles Steinfield, and Cliff Lampe, “The Benefits of Facebook ‘Friends’: Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites,” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 14, no. 4 (2007).

Fairbanks, Amanda M. “Funny Thing Happened at the Dog Run,” New York Times , August 23, 2008, cse http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/nyregion/24meetup.html .

Google, “Internet users as percentage of population: China,” February 19, 2010, http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country: CHN&dl=en&hl=en&q=china+internet+users .

Heiferman, Scott. “The Pursuit of Community,” New York Times , September 5, 2009, cse http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/jobs/06boss.html .

Ingram, Mathew. “Facebook Driving More Traffic Than Google,” New York Times , February 15, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/02/15/15gigaom-facebook-driving-more-traffic-than-google-42970.html .

Jackson, Linda A. and others, “Does Home Internet Use Influence the Academic Performance of Low-Income Children?” Developmental Psychology 42, no. 3 (2006): 433–434.

Kraut, Robert and others, “Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being?” American Psychologist, September 1998, http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1998-10886-001 .

Lavin, Frank. “‘Globalization and Culture’: Remarks by Ambassador Frank Lavin at the Eisenhower Fellowship Conference in Singapore,” U.S. Embassy in Singapore, June 28, 2005, http://singapore.usembassy.gov/062805.html .

Neil, Dan. “‘30 Rock’ Gets a Wink and a Nod From Two Emmy-Nominated Spots,” Los Angeles Times , July 21, 2009, http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/21/business/fi-ct-neil21 .

Newcomer, Joseph M. “Deconstructing the Internet Paradox,” Ubiquity , Association for Computing Machinery, April 2000, http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=334533 . (Originally published as an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , September 27, 1998.).

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, “Internet Overtakes Newspapers as News Outlet,” December 23, 2008, http://people-press.org/report/479/internet-overtakes-newspapers-as-news-source .

Pinckard, Jane. “Is World of Warcraft the New Golf?” 1UP.com , February 8, 2006, http://www.1up.com/news/world-warcraft-golf .

Rosen, Ellen. “THE INTERNET; Facebook.com Goes to High School,” New York Times , October 16, 2005, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05EEDA173FF935A25753C1A9639C8B63&scp=5&sq=facebook&st=nyt .

Ryan, Johnny and Stefan Halper, “Google vs China: Capitalist Model, Virtual Wall,” OpenDemocracy, January 22, 2010, http://www.opendemocracy.net/johnny-ryan-stefan-halper/google-vs-china-capitalist-model-virtual-wall .

Sandoval, Greg. “More Signs Hulu Subscription Service Is Coming,” CNET , October 22, 2009, http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10381622-261.html .

Sternbergh, Adam. “‘The Office’ vs. ‘30 Rock’: Comedy Goes Back to Work,” New York Magazine , April 10, 2008, http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/04/the_office_vs_30_rock_comedy_g.html .

Thompson, Clive. “An Elf’s Progress: Finally, Online Role-Playing Games That Won’t Destroy Your Life,” Slate , March 7, 2005, http://www.slate.com/id/2114354 .

Wolff, Michael. “Politico’s Washington Coup,” Vanity Fair , August 2009, http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/wolff200908 .

Wortham, Jenna. “Hulu Airs Season Premiere of 30 Rock a Week Early,” Wired , October 23, 2008, http://www.wired.com/underwire/2008/10/hulu-airs-seaso/ .

Zuckerberg, Mark. “An Open Letter from Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg,” Facebook, December 1, 2009, http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=190423927130 .

Understanding Media and Culture Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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IELTS Essay, topic: The Internet and communication

• IELTS Essays - Band 7

Some say that the Internet is making the world smaller by bringing people together. To what extent do to you agree that the Internet is making it easier for people to communicate with one another?

Electronic mail, instant messages, web cameras and microphones; all these gadgets and programs make the presence of the other person more real. Who knows; with the help of visual reality you might even get a 3-D image of the speaker! I believe that the Internet is one the best inventions of the last century, you can hardly get to miss anyone and nobody is really out of reach. You can keep in touch with your friends, and be able to do your work from your bedroom in your pajamas!

However, the internet can also be a major source of harassment. Spammers and hackers can invade your privacy and get personal/confidential information, which otherwise they never get access to. You are never out of anybody’s reach, unless you make a conscious decision of not checking your email, there can be always more work waiting for you in your inbox and you might never have a moment to yourself. Worse yet, if you were a workaholic, you might never experience that stress-free vacation ever again in your life – simply, because you have your mobile workplace with you at all times.

As a romantic, I will always look forward to getting an occasional letter in the snail mail. A personal letter, where I can sense the mood of the writer by the slants in his/her handwriting and get to know him/her better. But as a type A personality person, the internet gives me all what I dream of in terms of communication – the speed, reliability, and convenience of time and place. I can certainly tolerate its shortcomings any day, as long as it keeps me close to my loved ones.

This is a great essay, which seems worthy of Band 7 or perhaps even 8. It is longer than required (340 words instead of 250) which means that it took you more time to write and less time to check your work.

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3 thoughts on “IELTS Essay, topic: The Internet and communication”

Pingback:  IELTS Essay Samples of Band 7 | IELTS-Blog

great essay…i have a question sir…shouln’t i write in introduction”i completely agree with this statement or don’t agree or i say although it is good,it has some adverse effect…if i don’t give my opinion,will i maintain task response??

Hi Sarwar, you can write your opinion in the conclusion paragraph instead of the introduction. It won’t affect your score for task response.

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The Internet Communication

The Internet, as one of the types of communication, appeared in 1957 in the USA in order to create a new information transfer system. There are also other types of mass media such as radio, TV, and newspaper; and the Internet is the fourth type that entered the sphere of mass media. The Internet is a more specific type of communication than newspapers and TV because it possesses the characteristic features of both types, and it will possess not only these features in the future.

The Internet expands its borders and now, even if people do not read the newspapers and do not watch TV, they will not miss something valuable, because the Internet today is the most widespread system of transferring information.

The Internet is not the last excellent source of information in our developing society. In the near future, there must be some innovations that will help the Internet to develop its possibilities and perspectives due to its influence on the media audience.

If we speak about media technologies it is important to admit that they develop very fast, and people cannot sometimes even catch the technological development. The Internet uses modern technology to possess the fastest way of transferring information. This type of communication helps people not only to find and get the necessary information but also develop their own business, for example, or communicate with their relatives if they live abroad (Pelsmaker, 72).

If we speak about business then there are a lot of possibilities to promote your company or corporation, to make a lot of advertisements of the services you provide; and it gives you a wonderful chance to increase the level of your company.

Earlier there were no computers, the Internet, and mobile phones, the technological progress made an essential impact on the development of types of mass media. The evolution of technologies gives the great chance for people who want to do business. The internet helps many companies to support all the current processes such as advertisements, communication with international clients; and even helps to find the customers on the services they provide (SD dimension, 1).

Most of the companies have their own website in order to promote the organization. If the customer is interested in the service of this or that company he can easily search the Internet and find the necessary information. There are a lot of different chats which help people to communicate with each other sending different messages and receiving letters.

If we are interested in a particular topic and we want to discuss it with other people or just to read the meanings of other people, we can easily do it. Forums are services which are provided by different internet companies. We can discuss different questions on this or that topic and even if we do not know anything about this topic but we are interested in it, you can read the information which is provided by people on the forum.

The Internet is a very influential type of mass media. It gives the society a lot of different possibilities to find the necessary information or just to communicate with foreigners.

The potential of the Internet for the development of new interactive media is very huge. The Internet gives a valuable example of how technological progress can influence the development of new types of mass media. The Internet is a vivid example of such a new type of communication. Nowadays, with the help of the Internet, people have the opportunity to find the information they need, go shopping, or play online casinos at home (Hirts, 145).

The Internet provides different communication services, such as e-mail, internet telephone, and web cameras, and also the service of emergency calls. E-mail is one of the most important services provided by the Internet.

It gives a great opportunity to send messages to another person even if he has an e-mail on different networks. Very essential thing is to distinguish the difference between the internet and internal e-mail (SD dimension, 1).

Using the internet e-mail you can deliver the letter or messages to a person even if he has an e-mail address of different networks. Internal e-mail is such a kind of e-mail that is usually used for corporative communication. For example, if you work in a large organization or a company; and you should communicate with workers who work together with you. Or you have to use internal e-mail in order to communicate with your chief. The internal e-mail is used only in the organization and no one could read these messages. The documents and files can be sent through e-mail as an attachment.

Another service of communication that is provided by the Internet is Internet telephony. Internet telephony can be used as a usual telephone. So to say, people can communicate with each other hearing the voice. The idea of telephony on the Internet appeared in the 1990s like voice applications for computers. The main peculiarity of it is that Internet has the voice traffic. It may cost some money but also can be free. And if it is free, the cost of it will be less than the usual traditional telephone, especially, when you call in long distances.

To understand how Internet communication can be influenced by commercial interests there are a lot of web-based examples which have commercial interests.

The first web-based example is the website http://www.lpmedia.net. This is the site of the commercial company L&P Media. This company provides global communication solutions through mediums and technologies. L&P supports a great number of clients in order to reach communication purposes. They can reach the purposes in any format. They provide social media as well as brand building.

Another vivid example is the website www.doubledogcommunications.com. The site of the company provides different services for its clients. Everyone can become a client of this company. If you want to use the services of this company, you should just contact it and pay the cost for using different services.

The site www.ipinternational.net is also a vivid example of commercial influence on communication. This is the internet provider of voice, data, internet, and video over satellite solutions for fixed and mobile communication needs for businesses worldwide.

The site www.teamspeak.com is the site of the company which provides many services for the clients, such as video, forum, online games. Team Speak is a kind of software for quality voice communication through the Internet.

The commercial influence on communication is widespread nowadays. Many internet providers propose different services; including communication. But very often these services are not free.

The commercial company, using commercial technologies to provide its services, usually settles high or low prices on the use of its services.

The present-day society usually has the ability to connect the commercial internet companies in order to have a good quality of communication or promoting of the business. But, there is also another part of the society that thinks that it is not accessible to pay for the communication.

The Internet is influenced by the commercial because many providers have the commercial purposes to sell something, to provide new technologies or equipment which makes the access to the Internet better.

Creedon, P & Cramer, J 2007, Women in muss communication, Sage Publications, London.

Jensen, K (2002), A handbook of media and communication research: qualitative and quantitative methodologies, Routledge, London.

Hirst, M & Harrison, J (2007), Communication and New Media: From Broadcast to Narrowcast, Oxford University Press, England.

Lister, M (2003), New Media: critical introduction, Routledge, Canada.

McQuail, D (2002), McQuail’s reader in mass communication theory, Sage Publications, London.

Pelsmacker, de P & Geuens, M & Bergh von den, J (2007), Marketing communication: a European perspective, Pearson Education Limited, England.

SD dimension (1996), The Internet and Rural Development: Recommendations for Strategy and Activity. Web.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Communication

Technology has changed the way we communicate in so many ways. It has also changed the way people conduct business, and the manner we conduct our personal and social lives. We can easily text, talk and email through a link to anyone all over the world. In fact, it is now possible to visit any part of the world virtually. The education sector has also improved significantly because it is now possible to acquire a degree from any institution all over the world if you have a computer and internet connection.

On the other hand, internet communication has created numerous problems that appear to increase as the technology advances. The list of advantages and disadvantages of internet communication can be endless, it all depends on the track you choose to it. For example, you must be cautious on how and who you give your personal information. You should also question the sources of your information to determine whether it is the truth or not.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of internet communication?

Advantages of Internet Communication:

1. speed and time.

Through internet communication, time and money are saved. This is because it is much cheaper and quicker to transfer information around. It also becomes faster and efficient to contact a business partner or a relative. We can now communicate with anyone around the world through emails and text messages instantly. The internet has also provided face-to-face communication, thanks to Skype, social media sites, video conferencing, and many other ways offered by communication companies.

2. Job creation

One major advantage of internet communication is the creation of new and exciting jobs . System analysts, computer programmers, web designers, hardware and software developers and many other new opportunities created by information communication technology (ICT).

3. Globalization

The internet has indeed brought people closer, and also helped in economic growth. It has also brought down geographical and language boundaries. The universe has become a global village due to information technology, permitting countries such as such as Japan and Ireland who are separated by language and distance, share information and ideas with one another.

4. Cost effective

It is so cheap to send an email to another country than making a phone call. The internet has also helped to systematize business practices helping businesses to cut cost. That's why businesses send cold emails to their prospects which allows businesses to directly reach potential customers in a cost-effective and efficient manner. It opens up new opportunities for lead generation and sales at a fraction of the cost of other marketing methods.

5. Improve education sector

The internet has made it possible for numerous computer programs to be shared with different generations in different parts of the world. Important information such health, business and environment facts are easily available to any person with an internet connection.

6. More business opportunities

Information communication technology (ICT) has made it easier for businesses to be automated allowing customers to contact them 24/7. This means that a company can be opened anywhere, anytime, allowing clients to make purchases from different countries. This makes business easier and more convenient. For example, the use of ezTalks has helped many businesses work together instant and simultaneously. Companies using ezTalks are able to share and access large files without delays, get updates in real time, and ensure every staff participation no matter where they are or at what time.

7. Eliminates the cultural gap

The internet has helped to bridge the gap. People from different nations can easily communicate with each other, allowing the exchange of ideas and views.

Disadvantages of Internet Communication：

1. unemployment.

Even though the internet has improved many sectors, it has resulted in job unemployment through outsourcing, downsizing, and redundancies. For example, a factory can replace skilled personnel with robots which can work faster and for longer hours.

Although the internet has made communication easier, quicker and convenient, privacy problems have emerged. From email hacking to phone signal interceptions, more and more people are now troubled about their private information.

3. Lack of job security

Since technology keeps on changing, job security has become a problem. This means that IT experts need to be continuously learning to keep up with the changes if they want to retain their jobs.

4. Overruling cultures

While the internet has made the universe a global village, some cultures have consumed others. For instance, teenagers in western countries have influenced most teenagers in other parts of the world on how they dress, act and behave.

So, although the internet has definitely made our lives better, it also has the power to cause mayhem. Its impact on a society or a company is mostly felt by the choices we make while using it. But with wise use, we can be able to reap the benefits, and avoid many of its disadvantages.

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No internet, no phone: Canada wildfires expose fragility of rural infrastructure

Remote communities suffer total loss of communications after fires damage critical fibre optic cables

Shortly before sunset on Friday, residents of Canada’s Yukon territory discovered their connection to the outside world had vanished. Internet access had gone. Mobile phones showed no signal. Landlines had failed.

Chaos quickly set in. Electronic payments couldn’t be processed. In Whitehorse, the capital, most ATMs couldn’t function and the few that did were quickly drained of cash from panicked residents. City officials warned that the ability to call police, ambulance or fire services was non-existent.

Across much of Canada’s north-west reaches, a similar spectacle played out after a pair of wildfires damaged two key fibre optic cables. The telecoms company hit by the outage blamed a “perfect storm” of events for the loss. But experts say the total loss of communications was a “cascading disaster” that exposes the broader weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the bare-bones infrastructure of the Canadian north.

Northwestel, which provides telecommunications for the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern British Columbia announced on Friday that a wildfire had damaged a critical fibre optic cable near the town of Fort Nelson. The company said it had also lost its redundancy cable due to a separate wildfire burning near Jean Marie River and Kakisa in the Northwest Territories.

Northwestel’s vice-president, Tammy April, told CBC North it was the first time the company had experienced a total severing of communications.

“To have fires happen just exactly where they did, I don’t think we’ve seen something like that happen before,” she said. “It’s tremendously concerning.”

In recent years, Canada’s record-breaking wildfire seasons have enveloped a region of the country historically spared from widespread destruction. And with the trend of warmer temperatures and prolonged periods of dry weather expected to continue in the Canadian north, so too is the risk of frequent and more intense wildfire seasons.

Last summer proved particularly hazardous, after nearly three-quarters of residents of the Northwest Territories were forced to flee their homes as wildfires raged near the region’s biggest communities.

Disaster mitigation experts say disruptions to infrastructure have disproportionate effects on northern communities, which have far fewer resources. Most northern communities have only a single road leading in and out, and a single exposed fibre line connecting them to the outside world.

“We need to better understand things like vulnerability ‘pinch points’, where the loss of one fibre optic line, for example, has widespread impacts,” said Glenn McGillivray, the managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. He pointed to the atmospheric river flooding in south-western BC in November 2021, which caused landslides and flood waters that washed out highways, overpasses and rail lines. Those events in turn shut down Canada’s busiest port, forcing officials to use airlifts to bring food and water into stranded communities. The event also led to fuel rationing in the province.

McGillivray said “cascading disasters” highlighted the need for more backup systems in northern communities, a reality residents know all too well.

Last year, the community of Fort Simpson lost all mobile and internet connection with the outside world. During wildfire evacuations, both Hay River and Fort Smith also lost connection for nearly a week.

“ Last year demonstrated what that vulnerability looks like when it arrives at an extreme ,” said Ollie Williams, co-founder of the Yellowknife-based Cabin Radio . “People knew these risks existed. They’re not ignorant of the dangers. But the money, or in some cases the technology, just isn’t there to fix it.”

The rugged nature of the terrain means fibre optic lines can’t be buried under bedrock or permafrost, making them vulnerable to external damage. The remote locations also make it difficult to quickly repair damaged infrastructure.

“In southern Canada , in the United States and Europe, the communications infrastructure is like a web around everybody, knitted around people. It’s just not like that here. It is so isolated and it’s so remote that even having two fibre lines is a luxury – and one that can quickly disappear from two fires,” said Williams.

In recent years, companies such as Starlink, which offer internet and mobile access through low-earth satellites, have proved critical when disaster strikes. When residents of the north lost telecommunications over the weekend, Starlink’s services remained unaffected.

“ Does that mean you can just switch and rely on Starlink the whole time? Probably not. Starlink has these outages as well, and it doesn’t quite have the same capacity yet as some fibre lines,” said Williams. “Communities are realizing we just need everything that we can get.”

By Sunday, residents of the north had much of their mobile and internet restored. But the communications blackout was a reminder of the risks communities face ahead of what forecasters fear will be another devastating fire season.

“Up here you’re dangling by threads of road infrastructure and threads of fibre infrastructure. And any time any of those gets severed, you don’t have information. You don’t have transportation,” said Williams. “And in a severe wildfire season, that leaves you exposed.”

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Solar Storm Intensifies, Filling Skies With Northern Lights

Officials warned of potential blackouts or interference with navigation and communication systems this weekend, as well as auroras as far south as Southern California or Texas.

By Katrina Miller and Judson Jones

Katrina Miller reports on space and astronomy and Judson Jones is a meteorologist.

A dramatic blast from the sun set off the highest-level geomagnetic storm in Earth’s atmosphere on Friday that is expected to make the northern lights visible as far south as Florida and Southern California and could interfere with power grids, communications and navigations system.

It is the strongest such storm to reach Earth since Halloween of 2003. That one was strong enough to create power outages in Sweden and damage transformers in South Africa.

The effects could continue through the weekend as a steady stream of emissions from the sun continues to bombard the planet’s magnetic field.

The solar activity is so powerful that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors space weather, issued an unusual storm watch for the first time in 19 years, which was then upgraded to a warning. The agency began observing outbursts on the sun’s surface on Wednesday, with at least five heading in the direction of Earth.

“What we’re expecting over the next couple of days should be more significant than what we’ve seen certainly so far,” Mike Bettwy, the operations chief at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, said at a news conference on Friday morning.

For people in many places, the most visible part of the storm will be the northern lights, known also as auroras. But authorities and companies will also be on the lookout for the event’s effects on infrastructure, like global positioning systems, radio communications and even electrical power.

While the northern lights are most often seen in higher latitudes closer to the North Pole, people in many more parts of the world are already getting a show this weekend that could last through the early part of next week.

As Friday turned to Saturday in Europe, people across the continent described skies hued in a mottling of colors.

Alfredo Carpineti , an astrophysicist, journalist and author in North London, saw them with his husband from the rooftop of their apartment building.

“It is incredible to be able to see the aurora directly from one’s own backyard,” he said. “I was hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of green on the horizon, but it was all across the sky in both green and purple.”

Here’s what you need to know about this weekend’s solar event.

How will the storm affect people on Earth?

A geomagnetic storm watch or warning indicates that space weather may affect critical infrastructure on or orbiting near Earth. It may introduce additional current into systems, which could damage pipelines, railroad tracks and power lines.

According to Joe Llama, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory, communications that rely on high frequency radio waves, such as ham radio and commercial aviation , are most likely to suffer. That means it is unlikely that your cellphone or car radio, which depend on much higher frequency radio waves, will conk out.

Still, it is possible for blackouts to occur. As with any power outage, you can prepare by keeping your devices charged and having access to backup batteries, generators and radio.

The most notable solar storm recorded in history occurred in 1859. Known as the Carrington Event, it lasted for nearly a week, creating aurora that stretched down to Hawaii and Central America and impacting hundreds of thousands of miles of telegraph lines.

But that was technology of the 19th century, used before scientists fully understood how solar activity disrupted Earth’s atmosphere and communication systems.

“That was an extreme level event,” said Shawn Dahl, a forecaster at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “We are not anticipating that.”

Unlike tornado watches and warnings, the target audience for NOAA’s announcements is not the public.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The goal of the announcements is to give agencies and companies that operate this infrastructure time to put protection measures in place to mitigate any effects.

“If everything is working like it should, the grid will be stable and they’ll be able to go about their daily lives,” Mr. Steenburgh said.

Will I be able to see the northern lights?

It is possible that the northern lights may grace the skies this week over places that don’t usually see them. The best visibility is outside the bright lights of cities.

Clouds or stormy weather could pose a problem in some places. But if the skies are clear, even well south of where the aurora is forecast to take place, snap a picture or record a video with your cellphone. The sensor on the camera is more sensitive to the wavelengths produced by the aurora and may produce an image you can’t see with the naked eye.

Another opportunity could be viewing sunspots during the daytime, if your skies are clear. As always, do not look directly at the sun without protection. But if you still have your eclipse glasses lying around from the April 8 event, you may try to use them to try to spot the cluster of sunspots causing the activity.

How strong is the current geomagnetic storm?

Giant explosions on the surface of the sun, known as coronal mass ejections, send streams of energetic particles into space. But the sun is large, and such outbursts may not cross our planet as it travels around the star. But when these particles create a disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field, it is known as a geomagnetic storm.

NOAA classifies these storms on a “G” scale of 1 to 5, with G1 being minor and G5 being extreme. The most extreme storms can cause widespread blackouts and damage to infrastructure on Earth. Satellites may also have trouble orienting themselves or sending or receiving information during these events.

The current storm is classified as G5, or “extreme.” It is caused by a cluster of sunspots — dark, cool regions on the solar surface — that is about 16 times the diameter of Earth. The cluster is flaring and ejecting material every six to 12 hours.

“We anticipate that we’re going to get one shock after another through the weekend,” said Brent Gordon, chief of the space weather services branch at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

Why is this happening now?

The sun’s activity ebbs and flows on an 11-year cycle, and right now, it is approaching a solar maximum. Three other severe geomagnetic storms have been observed so far in the current activity cycle, which began in December 2019, but none were predicted to cause effects strong enough on Earth to warrant a watch or warning announcement.

The cluster of sunspots generating the current storm is the largest seen in this solar cycle, NOAA officials said. They added that the activity in this cycle has outperformed initial predictions .

More flares and expulsions from this cluster are expected, but because of the sun’s rotation the cluster will be oriented in a position less likely to affect Earth. In the coming weeks, the sunspots may appear again on the left side of the sun, but it is difficult for scientists to predict whether this will cause another bout of activity.

“Usually, these don’t come around packing as much of a punch as they did originally,” Mr. Dahl said. “But time will tell on that.”

Jonathan O’Callaghan contributed reporting from London.

An earlier version of this article misstated the radio frequencies used by cellphones and car radios. They are higher frequencies, not low.

How we handle corrections

Katrina Miller is a science reporting fellow for The Times. She recently earned her Ph.D. in particle physics from the University of Chicago. More about Katrina Miller

Judson Jones is a meteorologist and reporter for The Times who forecasts and covers extreme weather. More about Judson Jones

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A dramatic blast from the sun  set off the highest-level geomagnetic storm in Earth’s atmosphere, making the northern lights visible around the world .

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Solar storm disrupts communications

Geoff Brumfiel

People as far south as Florida were treated to a celestial light show Friday night as a geomagnetic storm set off an aurora, and caused some disruption to satellites.

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