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Thing - Internet basics

Did you know that the entire world wide web used to be located on a single computer? It is almost incomprehensible how large it has grown since the late 20th century. Now, the internet is a fundamental part of human life. There are over 40 billion devices connected to the internet and the global internet community consists of approximately 4.6 billion people. If you want to be amazed to an even greater degree, these internet live stats are awe-inspiring!

(If you, like me, are curious at the total amount of data on the internet, it has recently exceeded 40 zettabytes! This is approximately one trillion gigabytes of data! It has been said that “if each terabyte in a zettabyte were a kilometre, it would be equivalent to 1,300 round trips to the moon and back”! Incredible! )

While my knowledge database is directly connected to the internet, I cannot help but consider the remaining billions of people who are not part of the internet community or who face barriers. This gap is called the digital divide and is still an important issue – one that has made the impact of the pandemic even more difficult for many people.

That is a large report, but the primary causes for this divide are three things: access, affordability, and digital ability. These are all influenced by differences in income, age, education, employment and geography. To have the access we do, we are very privileged!

post by Akiko