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The internet has become essential to our everyday lives, but many of us have no idea how it actually works and what's going on when it doesn't.
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Allison, can you explain what internet is? - Before it was called the internet, it was called the ARPANET in the sixties.
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This network of computers was initially funded by the Department of Defense and used by the military and universities to access files and transmit information.
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But by 1991, everyone was using the internet. And by 1997, Wifi was born. This video you're watching now likely traveled thousands of miles from one server in a data center to reach your device.
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Or may have come from a closer server in a growing content delivery network. Data centers are rooms full of servers that store data and content.
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Some are owned and operated by huge tech companies, like Facebook now known as Meta⁽¹⁾, while others provide service to smaller websites.
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Data centers can be found all around the globe, but they're often located in remote areas like Council Bluffs, Lowa, and Papillion, Nebraska.
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When you receive that notification, send that email or watch a cute cat video, that data is sent via fiber optic cables that criss-cross the sea floors, making the web worldwide.
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These cables are super thick to protect the fragile optical fiber inside, but anchors, fishing boats and sea life can do a lot of damage.
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For example, in 2014, sharks were mistaking Google's underwater cables for lunch. Undersea cables lead to around 800 landing points around the globe, giving you plenty of options for a broadband connection.
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One is fiber optic, which is fast, but cables run from the internet service provider all the way to the customer's home or business, so it's not available in remote locations.
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Some rural areas don't have access to a wired connection because it's not financially feasible for an internet service provider to lay cables in a lesser populated region.
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Wireless internet often uses cell towers to get a connection, or they might even use satellites. Elon Musk recently released 48 satellites into space for his new broadband internet venture, Starlink.
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But as technology continues to advance, it may feel like there are more outages than ever. And that's because there are.
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As data services continue to move online, so do our digital lives and more chance for error like mechanical failures, glitches, bad software updates or even worse, hackers and ransomware.
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But tech companies that offer cloud-based services are usually most at risk because they store all their customer's private data.
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If a glitch hits one of these centralized internet services, boom, it affects every one of their customers.
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Technology is constantly evolving and so are our habits. 31% of U.S. adults report that they go online almost constantly.
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From the metaverse to avatars and beyond, the future of the internet and its reach seem limitless, but certainly not foolproof.
