I found the “How the Internet Works in Five Minutes” to be a very useful video. For the most part, my generation, myself included, has grown up taking the internet for granted without really knowing how it works. I’ve know that this is not really the case, but I’ve somewhat viewed it as a magical device that teleports information all over the world with a click of a mouse.
This video put the functionality of the internet into terms that made it intellectually accessible. Describing the internet as a wire, whether physical or digital, makes the internet very tangible – opposed to an abstract, magical device.
The video shows you the wire that is “the internet.” It then branches off all the functions of the internet, while showing how they all will connect back to that same original wire. Explaining how every device has its own IP address (like a mailing address) which is then located by the help of various routers, helped to put the functionality in perspective. Clarifying the difference between servers (computers directly connected to the internet) and home computers (devices connected to the server of an ISP) helped to distinguish between computer jargon that can be confusing to your every-day user.