The Internet and the Rewiring of Society

The internet grew from the US research network ARPANET, which sent its first message in 1969, and became a public space after Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web became publicly available in 1991. Its social effects have been enormous. Migrants can stay in daily contact with family; people with rare interests or illnesses find each other across borders; and volunteers from many countries built Wikipedia, launched in 2001, into a vast free encyclopedia.

The internet also lowered barriers for minority languages, small artists and activists to reach audiences. At the same time, sociologists note new problems: online harassment, loss of privacy and the concentration of attention on a few platforms. Manuel Castells described the rise of a network society in which flows of information shape power and identity. The internet shows how one technology can reshape relationships, communities and the meaning of distance.