What Is the Internet?

The Internet — the name we often use interchangeably with World Wide Web — is a massive
public network of networks, a labyrinth of hardwired and wireless connections between
disparate drives on countless devices scattered around the world. In a sense, it is like a global
computer, wherein each individual computer or server becomes just another node in one
massive, distributed system. Individual computers or users can log on or off, but the greater
network itself remains indefinitely. Alternatively, information on one computer can be
transmitted to another through the Internet and exist on both computers, without them or their
users having to physically interact or remain connected to the Internet.

That’s what “The Internet” is. In reality, there isn’t just one — there could be countless internets,
any time a series of computers are connected and enabled to communicate and exchange
information. Today, the standard office building or corporation might have an intranet, which is
the same type of computer/information network, only privatized to limit and control access. The
point is the connection, and the flow of information.

When you use data on your mobile phone, or check your email, or play a video game in real-time
with other gamers around the world, you are sending and receiving information through the
Internet. Your device becomes a part of the network.