How access of information influences our everyday lives

By: Kaspian Thoft-Christensen


Access to information is relatively new in human history. It has done wonders and changed the world as we know it, many people have profited immensely from it. Over time humans developed ways to get information to as many people as possible. Writing it down became one of the ways to store and send information. As books became mass produced and transportation became much quicker, information became much easier and faster to get. However, it was still difficult to find an answer to a specific question if you do not know what to look for. Then came the internet and "turned out existence upside down" (1). In the beginning, it was only used to transport small amounts of information between few people (1). Over time, more people were able to use it and more information was able to be transferred until the internet became what it is today.

Instant messaging

Being able the talk to someone from a distance has been possible ever since the invention of the telephone in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell (2). Being able to send messages through the internet is a very recent invention in comparison to the telephone. We have been able to contact anyone from anywhere using text messaging services. Making contact with others simpler and more to the point than calling someone. There is a guarantee that the person on the receiving end will be able to receive the message, and even if they do not see it, it will still be on the device until the receiver tries to check on it. Now, we also have instant messaging services through the internet. Not only can people with cell phones text someone who has a cell phone, but also anyone who has a device that supports the same instant messaging service program as the wielder of the cell phone can text. There are also some negative effects of instant messaging. When sending messages, people often try to send short simple messages. However, in real life conversations, people do not say short simple messages but instead are in complex conversations. People who text a lot might be more socially awkward in these situations (3).

Social networking websites

Every since facebook was made in 2004, social media has been blowing up. Many times when people meet up, they often talk about their life and things happening in it. Social media like Facebook have turned these conversations online. On Facebook, people are constantly talking about their life and what is happening in it. This can be looked at as bad or good thing. Now, we can keep in touch with people from far away that we do not often see or talk to. However, This also makes people more anti-social because the need for some to talk with others is reduced (4). Not all social media are like Facebook though. Twitter is a great example of a social media that has the ability to transport news very quickly. On Twitter, news moves quickly. When one person starts talking about something interesting or related to a topic they like, they will tweet about it. Others will see it and they will tweet about it. The cycle continues until just about everyone sees it. Most people on twitter also share their opinions and often start informative discussions.

Wikis

Before wikipedia, people would collect information by talking to one another. If someone wanted to know something they would have to ask someone who knew something about that topic. This had many drawbacks. Sometimes, you would not be able to find an answer to your question because there was not anyone who knew the answer. When the internet started to become more mainstream, online encyclopedias started showing up. None of them had much more information than a normal encyclopedia. The largest written encyclopedia, the Yongle encyclopedia, created in 1403 in China, was bigger than all these online encyclopedias (5) . When wikipedia was launched in 2001, the founder, Jimmy Wales, said that his vision was "for a world in which every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge" (5). Today, Wikipedia has become the go-to for finding out information. Disputes between people about facts are no longer common because one can just look it up on the internet. There are now over 5 million pages on wikipedia so just about anything that has been found out be humans is on wikipedia. However, there is one downside to wikipedia. Since anyone can edit any articles, not all the information may be credible.

Questions

1) What is the largest written encyclopedia?
2) What two things can make people more anti-social?
3) How does news travel on twitter?
Answers

Sources

  1. "How the Internet Has Changed Everyday Life." OpenMind, https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/article/internet-changed-everyday-life/?fullscreen=true
  2. "Who is credited as inventing the telephone? Was it Alexander Graham Bell, Elisha Gray, or Antonio Meucci?" Library of Congress Web Site, https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/telephone.html
  3. Contributed by Zawn Villines, GoodTherapy.org Correspondent. "How Texting Changes Communication." GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog, 20 Feb. 2014, https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/texting-teens-adults-communication-0726126
  4. Saiidi, Uptin. "How social media is making us less social: Study." CNBC, CNBC, 19 Oct. 2015, https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/15/social-media-making-millennials-less-social-study.html
  5. Murgia, Madhumita. "How Wikipedia changed the world." The Telegraph, Telegraph Media http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/12100516/How-Wikipedia-changed-the-world.html