Since the starting of corona virus and it has been in control over our actions and how we choose to live life, but is it also controlling the internet?
Not only has been the virus making us stay at home to avoid getting infected to try put a stop to the spread of the virus, but with that came the increase usage and consumption of internet which some think that it will cause an internet overload!
What is an internet overload you may ask? no its not internet having an overload of content, data, and information, as its job is to have more and more information while obtaining the old versions of data.
Then what is an internet overload? And how is it related to the Corona Virus?
Internet overload is related to the high level on internet consumption which in return puts pressure on the internet servers that provide us with the internet that we use and depend on in our daily life. That thought may have never crossed your head, to be living without internet after you’ve been so used to it.
How is it related to the corona virus?
With the restrictions regarding the virus, we must follow to stay safe and keep others safe as well, the internet usage increased drastically. Because people cannot leave their homes and its getting harder and harder to get entertained and live a normal easy life. So the internet is like a window for people to escape into another world, it has news and all sorts of entertaining and informing shows and platforms for others to spend hours on just passing time. So imagine each and everyone of us using the internet from the minute you wake up to check your smart phone , to the minute to try to fall asleep watching a movie or a show, all of that puts pressure on the internet servers around the world.
A form of entertainment that has been Increasing and consuming much of the internet are video games, among the young crown and young adults, it has increased up to 70% more video game usage than the usual rate during the Virus Spreading and social distancing. As well as for the drastic increase in the levels of Netflix consumption.
Another thing is , with this Virus Crisis more news is being shared constantly not only on news channels but also on social networks and online news agencies, and the more cases about the virus the more people are panicking and staying tuned to know more about what to expect on the longer run and wither this will have an end or not. This doesn’t only mean that the people are just watching and receiving the content of news as individuals and that’s the end of it, No, they are sharing, and others are re-sharing between each other. So, it’s a cycle of nonstop information sharing and consumption, that also is putting a lot of pressure on the internet servers.
A third reason would also be, the educational systems during the time of the virus are all dependent on online education, which in some countries is a first! they never tried it before. An example on that would be the whole educational system in UAE, as well as for some universities around the world of such: Stanford College, and University of Washington.
As well as for the fact that during the social distancing, the majority of industries have asked their employees to leave and work from home, even the company meetings are done from home using different services such as Skype and Zoom as a way to keep things going and not stop progress. Some of those firms such Amazon, twitter, Protect and Gamble. So, it’s not just one audience that are dependent on the internet, its everyone else using it for different reasons, so basically life at the time of the virus is an online life.
All of the pressure being put on the internet servers has affected the quality of internet speed, seemingly decreasing in some areas according to internet analysis company (Ookla).
However according to (Cloudflare) infrastructure providers for online properties, there is an increasing amount of traffic on internet usage but not to the point where it’s overwhelming that the internet shuts down.
there’s too many arguments regarding this issue … so what are your thoughts on it? will the internet in fact shut down because of this crisis?
Journalism JRN 215 