The internet has become one of the most integral parts of our lives today. There are so many things that we do on the internet, many of which are extremely important. With the level of progress we’ve witnessed in the internet, it has had a direct, yet positive effect on our lives, as it makes so many tasks that much easier. Today, the internet is used for just about anything, depending on your needs.
In this article, we will list 8 of the most common uses of the internet, so stay tuned for that.
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1. Education
The first point to list in this article, has to be education. Education is without a doubt one of the best things the internet has to offer. There are countless reference books, online help centres and schools, expert and scholars, and other study material that you can find online that can aid your learning processes, as well as make the process itself more entertaining.
You can find websites on a countless number of topics. You can go through to these websites and find endless amounts of information. When you use the internet for your educational needs, you are no longer relying on any one person to come and teach you something. You can also find tutorials online. These tutorials can be on just about any topic, making learning any topic just a few clicks away.
When we look at the various ways the internet can be useful, education has to rank right at the top, as there is no better use for it.
2. Online Banking
Online banking (or Net Banking), allows you to carry out your typical banking transactions from the comfort of your home, on your PC or mobile device. One of the downsides to this new technology, is job losses in the banking service space, however, this means that your banking needs are accessible to you, at any time of the day. You can transfer money from your bank account to just about anyone, within an instance, using these tools. E-banking has support for telephone bills, electric bills and much more.
3. FTP File Transfer
This is probably one of the biggest, if not biggest uses of the internet, or at least it was. FTP or file transfer protocol allows for the transfer of data over the internet. This data transfer can occur between two business entities, such as a customer and a business service (i.e. website hosting).
Usually, when using email services, there is a restriction on the size of the data you want to share, and it lacks the level of security for you to share confidential or sensitive information. FTP on the other hand, has been in use, since the very beginning and is still just as popular.
4. General Research
The internet or World Wide Web can be likened to a virtual library, which is probably how a lot of people look at it. You have several major search engines, like Bing, Google, and DuckDuckGo that are used by countless people, every single day, to find information on a wide range of topics. You can find specialised sites that can help you find places, with directions or provide you with media advice or tell you the current weather forecasts.
In addition to that, the net can be a priceless tool for academic research (as I have already touched on).
5. Playing Games
What would the internet be, if there wasn’t any way of extracting enjoyment from it? There are a countless assortment of games today that are available online. Some of these games are very simple, as you can play them directly from your internet browser. Other games are available via game distribution services such as Steam. You can download these directly off the internet, and play them with multiple online games, whether it be in team battles or just a general open world game. You can even find websites that are dedicated to brain games – so if that’s your thing, I say, check it out.
6. Electronic Mail
Of all the various uses of the internet, email has to rank quite high up there. People use email to share information, videos, images, for business communications, and much more. This has led to significantly faster communications between peoples, resulting in more efficient businesses. Email has almost rendered paper usage (for sending communications) to nothing.
Today, you will find many other tools in this particular space, however, none of them, no matter how popular or creative have been able to dethrone email, which is still seen as a premier means of communication online. A lot of email services are free, which is why just about everyone and anyone has their own email address. The email concept was the beginning, as it paved the way for other innovative tools in the same space.
7. Job Search
Job search in the past was a very slow and tedious process that required constant follow-ups and updates. However, when we add the internet into the process, this has made things significantly faster. For this particular article, Job Search has taken position seven.
You can find millions of websites on the net that provide vacancies on jobs on many different companies. All you need to do is register to one of these websites, and you can go from there. These job search websites will not only send you emails listing the most current and related jobs, but they will also select the best out of them, before sending you anything. Searching for a job is much easier today, thanks primarily to the internet.
8. Shopping
This probably goes without saying. Shopping has to be listed here, as it is without a doubt, one of the most common and probably pleasurable experiences for most end users online.
Users will visit a plethora of different websites, when they have free time, or are simply bored, to find something to purchase. Items purchased are usually delivered in no time. There is almost an infinite number of websites for users to find products to purchase from. With the internet, it’s now possible for you to purchase items from anywhere on the globe.
–AUTHOR INFO—
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is a former IT Manager who now runs his own computer support website https://www.compuchenna.co.uk
