History of the Internet

I read through some of the history of the Internet article written by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, and found the predictions for 2020 to seem very true for even 2013!  The first finding was that the mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the Internet for most people in the world by 2020 seems to be very true from my experience.  This article was written in 2008, when I first started working.  At that time, our company didn’t use smart phones as standard for sales personnel, but today, the iPhone is the standard issue phone for anyone who has a company phone.  More and more of our employees have company phones; it is not just the sales force.  With the increasing adoption of smart phones, it makes sense that these devices will be the primary connection to the Internet.  Also, in the Kelley connect week, I learned that in Kenya, although many citizens don’t have electricity, they do have cell phones.  With the Internet beginning to pervade these developing nations, smart phones will be cheaper and easier for these people to acquire than a desktop computer would be.  For developing nations for sure, the mobile device will be the primary connection to the Internet. 

The other finding I thought was interesting was that the division between personal time and work time will be erased.  In 2013, I’m definitely seeing this shift change.  As we become more connected, the concept of the 9-5 job is increasingly disappearing.  Working with international business, we need to have calls in the late evening to talk with colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region.  Now that I have a smartphone, I am always getting emails, work and personal, pushed to my phone, and when I see them, I feel the need to respond and address the issue immediately.  Even when I’m on vacation, I still check email and respond so when I get back to work, I’m not days behind.  On the flip side, if I get a notification to pay a bill while I’m at work, I pay it online right away instead of waiting until I’m home to pay it on my personal time.   With this division fading away, I think we will also see a rise in employees working offsite.