It was only forty years ago that the internet began to make its huge impact on the world. To imagine a world without it now would be near to impossible. We rely so heavily on what the internet can offer, including jobs, knowledge, communication and much more. However, the way the internet changes every day life is far from over. The world wide web will continue to create opportunities for everyone with access to it. Here’s what you can expect in the next few years.
More People Using the Internet
There can’t be many people who aren’t using the internet, right? Surprisingly, there’s a large proportion of the world that still doesn’t have access to the internet. With a massive 6.7 billion people in the world today, only a relatively small 1.7 billion are using the internet. Within the next few years, you can expect those numbers to rise. That will mean some major changes may occur in order to accommodate the ever-increasing number.
Language Support
The main goal at the moment is for the internet to penetrate countries that aren’t using the internet widely. In the U.S. the internet has an impressive 74.8% penetration rate, whereas in Africa and the Middle East, the penetration rate is between 7% and 28%. When the rates increase in different areas, there will be a larger need for language support on the internet. The variety of available languages on social media, websites, blogs and more will need to increase. Sites like Twitter or Facebook will need to permanently change settings in order to provide the appropriate settings for all users.
Internet of Things
Right now, the internet is made up of connected computers and a few devices. As the years go by, it’s expected that the internet will become one big connection of things. For instance, buildings will be using sensors, energy supply will be connected to the internet and phones, home and business security will be monitored by the internet. The list could go on. So, the internet is longer solely a computer in the living room; it’s many of the things in the household. The internet will make life more convenient in every sense.
An Ocean of Content
Imagine the amount of content that the internet holds with just 1.7 billion users. Businesses, blogs and articles, social media content and much more. As users increase, the internet has to be able to hold far more content. Expectations are of the internet holding up to 45 exabytes of content per month. That includes images and videos uploaded by users to platforms like the Cloud. When need surpasses this amount, it’s predicted that the whole architecture of the internet will have to change. People will be searching for higher content platforms, fast VPN and quicker response to anything and everything.
Mobile Broadband
Remember the days of the dial-up connection? No longer do we have to sit in front of the computer and wait ten minutes for an established connection. However, there are still times when it’s difficult to get an internet connection when you’re out and about. Unless you’re in a hotspot that can get 4G coverage, you may not be able to connect to the internet at all. Even when you can connect via phone, unless you’re using a WiFi connection, it will rack up your mobile phone charges, depending on your data package. You won’t have to worry about that in a few years. There won’t be many places you can go where you won’t be able to connect to the internet or find a WiFi hotspot.
Evolvement of the Cloud
The Cloud is already pretty amazing. You don’t have to worry about losing pictures, videos or other content if you lose your phone. You can store business documents there, important personal documents like birth certificates and passports and much more. However, there is always room for improvement. Predictions for the Cloud say that the platform will evolve into something bigger than we can imagine at the moment. The more services the Cloud can provide for users, the more money cloud computing will generate and the further it can expand in the future.
Greener Internet
One of the major downfalls of the internet is the amount of energy users need to consume in order to be a part of the online world. Experts are more aware of this problem than ever and agree that eventually the internet architecture will have to change in order to become greener. Networking technologies are already becoming more energy efficient, but some technologies missed the memo. This means that technology developers either need to create an updated version or start from scratch in order to meet future restrictions on energy wastage.
With the Good Comes the Bad
With the development of the internet, will also come the development of hacking technology. It would be impossible to be completely rid of hackers on the internet, no matter what type of architecture was put in place. So, with future improvements will come the development of security protocols for users. Security will become tougher, more thorough and perhaps, a little annoying for every day users. However, with the introduction of fingerprint scanning- already used on iPhones- and retinal scanners, hackers will need to go out of their way to target and infiltrate personal and business accounts.
Network Management
Network management can be a difficult task with the internet as it is today. However, as the internet evolves, network management will become more automated. Networks will be able to self-diagnose any problems, put maintenance into action without prompt and reboot themselves if necessary. It will be far easier to distinguish the health of any particular network than it is right now. This takes the stress from business owners who depend on networks running properly to make a living. Research is already being done to develop new tools for network management.
What do you see for the future of the internet? Whatever happens, it will certainly have a huge impact on the world.
