The Internet Across the Decades
The 1980's - The Professional's Internet: The proto-Internet exists almost entirely for the purposes of researchers, academics, engineers and the like. This is the most serious the Internet will ever be.
The 1990's - The Nerd's Internet: The early Internet adopters were almost all heavy computer nerds, techies and other's who were first intrigued by the power of the Internet to share ideas, data, technology. Even the pop culture online in the 1990's was very nerdy. The politics associated with the Internet were more libertarian than liberal.
The 2000's - The Mainstream Internet: The majority of homes in America begin to have some kind of Internet connection. The Internet begins to lose its associated with being for geeks. The idea of buying something online isn't just for hardcore geeks any more, but is something anyone might do. Social networks start springing up that are just for nerds, but intended for normal people. Even Grandma likely has an Internet connection (even if all she ever uses it for is forwarding you horrible e-mail rumors).
The 2010's - The Clickbait Internet: Virtually everyone is online, and almost everyone is heavily involved in some kind of online social networking. Internet marketing from even mainstream sources becomes more and more debased in an effort to drive people to their websites. The "culture" of the Internet is no longer associated with science and technology, but with pop culture of the lowest common denominator. The biggest users of the Internet are no longer the tech nerds, but those who are into socializing and spreading various pop culture "memes". Even sites like ThinkGeek now primarily sell items related to TV shows and movies.
The 2020's [Prediction] - The Post-Internet: With the Internet of things, streaming TV, smart watches, etc, what is and isn't the "Internet" (or a "computer" for that matter) becomes completely blurred. All technology is connected in some way or another. There is no longer an "Internet culture", but various cultures that are blurred across the various ways we communicate and entertain ourselves.
The 1990's - The Nerd's Internet: The early Internet adopters were almost all heavy computer nerds, techies and other's who were first intrigued by the power of the Internet to share ideas, data, technology. Even the pop culture online in the 1990's was very nerdy. The politics associated with the Internet were more libertarian than liberal.
The 2000's - The Mainstream Internet: The majority of homes in America begin to have some kind of Internet connection. The Internet begins to lose its associated with being for geeks. The idea of buying something online isn't just for hardcore geeks any more, but is something anyone might do. Social networks start springing up that are just for nerds, but intended for normal people. Even Grandma likely has an Internet connection (even if all she ever uses it for is forwarding you horrible e-mail rumors).
The 2010's - The Clickbait Internet: Virtually everyone is online, and almost everyone is heavily involved in some kind of online social networking. Internet marketing from even mainstream sources becomes more and more debased in an effort to drive people to their websites. The "culture" of the Internet is no longer associated with science and technology, but with pop culture of the lowest common denominator. The biggest users of the Internet are no longer the tech nerds, but those who are into socializing and spreading various pop culture "memes". Even sites like ThinkGeek now primarily sell items related to TV shows and movies.
The 2020's [Prediction] - The Post-Internet: With the Internet of things, streaming TV, smart watches, etc, what is and isn't the "Internet" (or a "computer" for that matter) becomes completely blurred. All technology is connected in some way or another. There is no longer an "Internet culture", but various cultures that are blurred across the various ways we communicate and entertain ourselves.