Compare and contrast the life before the internet versus after the internet

Introduction

In the recent world, the invention of the internet has increased the finding, management, and sharing of information among people across the world. Therefore, the life before and after internet can be described as two distinct states in which people lived including the finding, management and sharing of information. This essay seeks to demonstrate how the invention of the internet has led to the transition of human lives from analog to the digital world of information technology.

In the context to information finding, people who lived before the internet faced a number of challenges when finding the information about various topics of interests. Previously, the only available sources of information prior the development of internet included printed books, encyclopedia, as well as other written materials. Much time was wasted when tracing the relevant information from various printed books which the reader had to read page by page while highlighting the topics of interest from a number of books. On the other hand, finding information in the life after the internet has become easy and with little time needed to search the information from various topics of interests. Not only has internet reduced time for finding information, but also has increased information diversity from various websites, online journals, e-books, and among other sources. As a result, life after internet has become easy for students and researchers to learn through various information search engines from the internet (Bargh &Mckenna 2004).

Managing information during the life before the internet was tiresome and time-consuming. The information derived from printed books was formally analyzed and documented in files or books. The process of analyzing and documenting information was repeated due to many mistakes encountered during data processing. Besides, the information documented could be lost through disasters such as fire or theft. Moreover, piling of many documents and files made it difficult to retrieve the relevant and urgent information for reference (Temmel et al. 2014). However, the development of internet has increased efficiency and reduced the time required to manage vital information by individuals or organizations. The information is stored in databases making it easy and fast to retrieve the required information and make necessary changes for future reference. Moreover, the information stored in databases ensures safety against theft and disasters such as fire due to data security and recovery mechanisms (Bargh &Mckenna 2004).

Sharing information during the life before the internet was also time-consuming and limited to a certain group of people. Information sharing involved the use of letters, faxes, and telegraphs that were only limited to various organizations. Thus, the transmission of information to the intended recipient and feedback took several days or even months; thus decreasing the reliability and validity of the shared information (Bargh &Mckenna 2004). With the development of internet, information sharing has become effective and fast through the use of e-mails and other social media programs with no limitation to the number of recipients. As a result, people across the world have been linked by internet to share information, knowledge, and skills through online interaction and social media, resulting to innovation and creativity. Additionally, internet has allowed people to conduct online business meetings and conferences from different locations and parts of the world hence reducing the travel expenses previously incurred in the life before the internet. However, internet has led to behavior change among youths due to availability of pornographic sites and other harmful information (Temmel et al. 2014).

In conclusion, the transition from the life before to the life after the internet has improved the quality of living through effective finding, managing, and sharing of information. In particular, internet has enhanced fast and cost-effective information finding and sharing, as well as safe and fast information management. Although the internet contains contents that may alter the good behaviors of people, the benefits exceed its drawbacks. Therefore, it is evident that without the internet, effective information management and sharing would be a challenge for many people and organizations.

Work cited

Bargh, John and Mckenna, Katelyn.The Internet and Social Life. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2004. 55: X—X doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141922. Accessed on 1^st December, 2014 from: http://www.yale.edu/acmelab/articles/Internet_and_Social_Life.pdf

Temmel, Markus et al. (2014). The impact of the Internet on our daily life. 2014. [Online] Accessed on 1^st December, 2014 from: https://www.tru.ca/cpj/essay.html

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