I know people don’t understand how the internet works, it is a basic truth in life. People don’t get the concepts behind a global network of interconnected servers that contain the files necessary to build the framework of the internet, and that your web browser brings all these elements together in one user interface. I don’t expect everyone in the world to get that quite yet. Some people still don’t understand the hundred year old concept of internal combustion engines, so I don’t want to strain them by telling them how the Internet works, but I think there are a few things everyone needs to know so that everyone can talk at least somewhat intelligently about the internet and how we use it. Here is what you need to know…
- The internet is not owned by any person or group of people. This concept shouldn’t be that hard to understand. People own the content that is on the internet, and people own the servers that make up the internet, but the internet is not a thing you can own. If someone owned it they would make you pay for it, and you would see even more ads than you do right now, so just trust me, no one owns the internet.
- You can’t turn off the internet. Another simple concept that apparently escapes many. The internet cannot be shutdown, there is no off switch, and no one can take over the entire internet. If that were possible, someone would have already done it and the internet would be turning off all the time. You would probably hear about it every 5 minutes. Yes, someone can turn off your method of accessing the internet, but it still exists in your absence, no matter how popular you are.
- You can take things off the internet. No matter what someone tries to tell you, it is possible to delete something from the internet, but it can be extremely hard depending on what you are trying to delete. Some things are basically saved forever where you can’t access them, but most files are able to be destroyed with a few clicks. Some things you can’t really delete are things like tweets, Facebook pictures, and Snapchat pictures, so don’t be stupid.
I really hope you understand a few things now, and you can talk intelligently about the internet when you start babbling about how there is someone who controls the internet and is putting a bunch of conspiracy theories on it and trying to manipulate the world. I can promise you the Illuminati is not controlling what you read on the internet, even though some days I would like to believe they did, just to make my day more interesting.
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