No matter where you turn someone is on the Internet. They access via their smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops and desktops and a day doesn’t go by that you won’t see them clicking away on their devices, sometimes to the exclusion of all else around them. But why? What is this phenomenon and why do so many people go online? To give you just a brief idea of how and why the Internet has infiltrated our lives, here are the top five reasons why people use the internet.
1. Communication
Yes, people are social creatures. There is no denying that, but within the past few years, interpersonal communications happen online much more regularly than they do in person. People go online to socialize on social media, through email and even in chat rooms on game sites. From socializing to business communications, the Internet is used more for communicating with others than any other media, including face to face and telephone conversations. Amazing just how far the Internet has come in a few short decades!
2. Research
From business to education, the Internet is being used for research second only to communication. Students can research much more quickly than ever before which makes it easier to get a master of arts in liberal studies, for example, than they could have in years gone by in a traditional classroom setting. Because they have literally all global information at their fingertips, they no longer need to spend long arduous hours in the library. Businesses can research anything from buying trends to the price of coal in China. It’s amazing just how much knowledge has been uploaded in just under three decades!
3. Education
Then there is education itself. Whether you are studying for an online masters degree in philosophy or a certificate in Cisco telecommunications, you can do it all online and never set a foot in a lecture hall again. Not only can you take your classes online but you can write your thesis paper or doctoral dissertation all at the very same computer you are using to access your reference material. Online degree programs for advanced studies are more common than you might think and that’s why programs like this one are becoming more popular than those traditionally taught on campus.
There Are Many Other Reasons as Well
These are just the top three reasons people use the Internet but there are a number of other reasons why the Internet is accessed daily. You would think that financial transactions would fall within the top three but actually, no matter how many financial transactions are conducted, there are more people communicating, researching and learning than even financial transactions being conducted. Most schools use the internet daily, so multiply that times the number of students in all grades all the way up through graduate school and you will see why education and research are listed before financial transactions. Remote access to everything from smart appliances to high tech equipment could be loosely classified as communications.
Whether studying for a master of liberal arts online or communicating with a friend in a chat room, you are among literally billions of people using the Internet around the globe. Chances are you access the Internet daily for one of these three reasons, or all three. Can you identify which of these three reasons why you access the Internet the most? You might be surprised at what you find!
