Internet - More To Connectivity Than Meets The Eye

Internet, often dubbed the information super highway, has become such an integral element of our culture that some believe that it is already a hallmark of human civilization *wow!* Well...Close, but not quite there, yet! We all marvelled at the astonishing rate at which internet infiltrate our lives since its inception, to the extent that we assumed that it is the norm and without which, one is in danger of being left behind by the masses. That's when our ignorance got the better of us!

No wonder they say to assume is to make an ass out of both you and me. Catch the drift? The above statistics was calculated based on a world population of 6, 767, 805, 208 with an estimated 1, 733, 993, 741 internet users (Sept 30, 2009). Seems like there is still an awful lot of potential that can be harnessed, it comes as a surprise that the penetration rate for Asia only tops that of Africa, given that most will be inclined to belive that Asia probably should be right behind North America & Europe. Of course this is not to say that internet access is fairly difficult to get hold of in Asia, it's just that many Asian countries have large sections of their population not 'wired up'. Singapore (of course!), Japan & Hong Kong are a few of the "exceptions" in Asia, having penetration rates of up to 70%.

Putting things into perspective, internet growth has stalled and the explosive growth we've seen in the past decade is replaced by evolution of the composition and utility of the medium. With the increasing influx of younger internet users (due to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc), a lot remains to be seen if we can make their browsing experience safe and secure.

Food for thought >>> Amidst the belief of fading internet boom and the frenzy to develop internet and its relevant uses laterally, one cannot overlook the fact that the world is not as connected as we all thought it is. While we lavish obscene amounts of money on making the internet better (mainly for current users), one can't help but wonder if we should also make this necessity accessible to those who have yet to become part of our cyberworld?