International Internet Day

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Author: Jahily al'Karee, October 2014

When pondering what to write for an October issue that wasn’t about Fall or Halloween, I came upon this tidbit: there’s an International Internet Day and it’s celebrated on October 29th. Seeing as we are an internet-based community with an international membership, it sounded like just the thing.

Why October 29th? This was the day back in 1969 that the first message was transmitted from one computer to another, by a group of scientists in California. They were trying to send the message “login” but their initial attempt only got out “l-o” before it crashed.

Although networks were developed in the 1960’s by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, they were not the internet. The internet was developed sometime in the 1980’s, but was still not readily-available or commercialized until the 1990’s. And as we all know, it has grown exponentially ever since. In 1993 only about 1% of the world’s population had internet connections. An estimated 40% of the world’s population has an internet connection today, with that number expecting to hit three billion people by the end of this year.

Some of you may not remember a time not having the internet or email, but for those of us in the “pong” or “Atari” generation, it has really changed our world. Instant news and communication, the ability to use programs like Skype to chat with far-away loved ones, social media, etc. I’m not convinced it’s all for the good, but that’s for another day!

One of the things I’ve loved most about the internet is the ability to have sites like Tarvalon.net. The opportunity to “meet” and learn from each other, to come together via this site and many others like it. I have learned so much about other countries, cultures, and people with backgrounds & viewpoints different from my own, that I would never have had the opportunity to experience without the internet.

So think about that next time you “login.”