Changing It Up

Here are just a few subjects I’ve discovered that have changed over time due to the introduction of the personal computer and development of the internet.

Changed the way we Learn

I personally remember growing up and taking school trips to the library and gathering all the information I needed from various books. Back in the day, acquiring information about an unfamiliar subject required either the discovery of a knowledgeable individual or a trip to the local library. Then a little internet start-up founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the nineties changed all of that. You might be familiar with it, it’s called Google. 

The internet doesn’t just offer information in comprehensive fashion, it offers it instantaneously. Now with the ability to search for anything and everything at the click of a button, individuals around the world can now learn about any subject of their choosing in a quick and efficient manner, either by typing it into the search bar offered on Google’s homepage. 

Changed the way we do Business

An article I recently read featured a good example of how the internet has changed the way we market. 

http://whatculture.com/technology/10-ways-the-internet-has-changed-the-world.php/6

If there’s one internet success story from the last year or so that you’re familiar with, it’s probably Kickstarter, the site that epitomizes the practice of crowd sourcing by allowing projects to source investment, interest and possible custom from a huge user base. It’s merely one of the latest techniques that marketers can use to ply their trade, but it’s an effective one, as are many others that they have been able to utilize using the internet’s technology. Tailored marketing, for instance, is possible by gathering details about people’s interests through their search patterns, allowing organizations to market products and services at the individuals most likely to be interested in them. This is cheaper and much more effective than traditional marketing techniques, such as television advertising, as there is no guarantee that a firm’s target market will be watching a specific program at a specific time.

Direct marketers also have a field day with the technology, as no longer do they have to go through the hassle of printing and delivering material in an attempt to source custom or keep previous customers informed of new developments. Instead, they can merely email information to a mailing list of thousands in a matter of seconds. It’s a great annoyance to most of us, but for every ninety-nine individuals that have a junk e-mail filter and won’t bother to read such material, there will be one who does and makes a purchase as a result.

Changed the Way we take in Media

Many of us grew up in homes with a number of bookshelves containing an assortment of novels, magazines and films. Again, the internet and new technology has quickly changed that as well. Internet speeds have been progressively improving over the last few years, making the streaming of media or the download of large files very accessible. As a result, literature, games, films and television have outgrown the need for a costly physical medium such as a book or disc, and are accessible in an instant on the likes of e-book readers, Netflix and catch-up services.

Surprisingly it’s just not professional publishers, production companies and the like that are able to utilize the internet to get their product to customers, however, as the ease of the technology’s use and its wide user base makes it a easy medium for amateurs to contribute. Countless musicians, comedians, filmmakers, writers and other personalities have made a name for themselves by releasing their material on platforms such as YouTube, SoundCloud or Ustream, which can be used to distribute either pre-recorded or live material. As a result, people have both more choice than ever and more opportunities to pursue their dreams.

These are just a few examples of how the personal computer and internet has changed our way of life. Although not everything can be predicted, it is very likely that the personal computer and internet will conitune to change our lives and how we come about doing things. Alex Antliff's article "10 Ways The Internet Has Changed the World" provided a lot of good examples and has many other interesting examples featured in his as article.