Friends and family , no matter where they are on the planet, people can talk to one another if they have access to the right technology. For example there is a very busy Internet cafe set up at the base camp of Mount Everest!

Story:

High Hopes for Everest Internet Cafe

Travel and the Environment: Video conferencing and email have reduced the need for business travel, this has allowed people to have more time at home with their families rather than being stuck in an airport somewhere. Less travel also means less pollution, as fewer cars and aircraft need to be used.

Story:

Airlines sport their green colours

Education and Training: Video conferencing and remote control of another computer has allowed teachers and trainers to run lessons from far away. For example, an International corporation located in the UK may want to train their staff located in Thailand on a new computer application. Normally, the Thai staff would have to come to the UK for training. But now, the UK office sets up a video link with the Thailand office, they also set up remote control of the PCs in Thailand and they run the training course directly from the UK. Everybody wins.

Working anywhere: Being able to access the company network from anywhere means that people are no longer tied to the office, they could just as easily work from home. Because of this, home working ('Teleworking') is becoming more common.

Also, people working for international corporations can travel from country to country on business and yet settle down to a fully networked local office desk and work as it they are in their home office.

Story: Working from home trend gathers pace

World Awareness: The 24 hour news networks brings us events from around the world as they happen. This means that as a Society we can react almost immediately. In natural disaters such as the Boxing day Tsunami, massive aid from nations from around the world was brought to bear within hours. Wars, crimes, tragedies, celebrations are much closer to us than they were 50 years ago.

Quote from the story below: "There was such a huge impact immediately [that] people acted immediately," said Helen daSilva, a spokeswoman for Oxfam America. "The numbers have been incredible."

Story:

Internet aids Tsunami recovery

Social connections:

From the story quoted below:- Research has shown that over 60 million American citizens turn to the Internet when they need career advice, helping people through an illness or finding a new house.

It shows that the Internet has become a cornerstone when searching for vital information. The thing to be really careful of though, especially on health matters, is how accurate is the information? Just because a 'fact' appears on a web page somewhere, does not mean that it is true. Good judgement is even more vital as you try and sort out the dross from the good information.

Story: Internet serves as 'social glue'