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The Internet was introduced to the general public in the early 1990s and has quickly grown from an obscure technology to an absolute necessity for many people.

Studies indicate that over 160 million Americans use the Internet regularly and in many ways it is becoming the primary source for information. Initially, information sourced from the Internet was considered unreliable. However, throughout the 1990s, many accredited information sources previously found only in print, such as newspapers, dictionaries, scientific journals, encyclopedias, and magazines have made themselves available on the Internet. In addition, new services such as Helium, Wikipedia, and About.com established or are establishing themselves as reliable information sources.

Recent high-speed Internet connections allow file transfers of one or two megabytes per second. This makes downloading entire music albums worth of compressed audio a nearly trivial task. Services such as iTunes are helping to reshape the media industry in light of this new distribution method.

Thanks to the Internet, people are more connected than ever. E-mail and chat services can now be easily used online at no cost beyond the price of the Internet connection, allowing users to quickly and affordably contact distant friends and family. Using these services, Internet users can simultaneously communicate with several people at the same time, further increasing the efficiency and ease of information transfer.

Most recently, blogs and sites such as MySpace allow even the least computer-literate Internet user to post his or her thoughts online. Even information as personal that found in diaries and journals is being ported to the Internet for mass consumption. More and more employers are screening employees by doing a web search for the potential employee's name.

To say that we are truly dependent on the Internet may be an understatement. This technology is rapidly becoming seamlessly and perhaps irreversibly integrated with our world.

Learn more about this author, Logan Anderson.
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