Your family's nowhere to be found, you miss your morning jam on toast, and there's no way you're grabbing a cold one with the crew. And don't even think about hopping online. The Internet… yeah, that could be your lifeline. If only you knew how to create it. Actually, scratch that, you're not even sure what it is or how it works. Until now, it's always been this thing that's just there, something you access with a click or two. Sometimes they'd even deliver it to your doorstep.

You're not alone in the dark. Almost nobody knows how the Internet works. It's like magic, right? Your computer just needs to say "Abracadabra" and boom, you're telecommuting. We tend to think of it as those sparkles in the air that make our phones play music, upload pics to Insta, or fetch the latest news. But guess what? Today, we're pulling back the curtain because the Internet is anything but magic.

LET'S TIME TRAVEL…

So, even though the ARPANET (1969), the Defense Department-funded communication network, wasn't exactly spellbinding, it laid the groundwork for the biggest communication network in human history: our beloved Internet. This network linked different computers, breaking away from traditional phone communication, thanks to something called packet switching.

Here's the deal: packet switching chops up info into little packets, each with a small amount of the data, plus where it's from and where it's headed. Routers use this info to guide the data through cables, mostly over phone lines and data transmission lines. Once it reaches its destination, the packets regroup to reassemble the complete data.

A lot's changed since then, with tech evolving at warp speed, but the Internet we know and love today still follows those same principles from 54 years ago. Essentially, it's an intangible network of computers connected by cables, not some web, app, or cloud, nor a supercomputer pulling tricks.

A MORE MODERN NETWORK

The basics of sending info from point A to point B remain, but there have been many, many upgrades to the system. One of those upgrades is the TCP/IP protocol suite (yep, lots of acronyms, we know). First up, let's break down what a protocol is in this context: it's a set of communication standards, rules defining how devices communicate with each other. They determine message formats, the sequence of information exchange, and communication initiation and termination procedures, among other things.

Now that's clear, let's talk about the Transmission Control Protocol, aka TCP. It's a cornerstone of today's Internet, created by Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn (considered the Internet dads) between 1973 and 1974. Its job is simple: the info traveling through cables goes in little packets, and TCP makes sure these packets are organized when they reach their destination.

The Internet Protocol (IP), also built by our dynamic duo, ensures info gets to the right place. It does this through IP addresses, which are strings of numbers (and sometimes letters) identifying each device with Internet access. It's like each device has its own license plate (and watch out, because this is also how you can get "tickets"). There are two main versions of IP addresses: IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) and IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6).

The first one's the older version, made up of a series of numbers divided by four dots (e.g., 192.168.0.1). Each set of numbers ranges from 0 to 225, which, with the exponential increase in Internet-connected devices over the years, felt a bit cramped. Enter IPv6, a newer version not only made up of numbers but also letters (e.g., 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334).

Now that we know that the Internet operates on some basic rules, sending info to specific devices in little packets, just like in a classic communication setup (sender-message-receiver), let's talk about the journey these data embark on.

DO THEY TRAVEL BY BROOMSTICK?

Today, the Internet isn't just a structure that fits on a single page like it did in 1973. That means the journey data has to take to reach their destination isn't exactly short. Data travels through cables, but not the old-school phone lines anymore. They've had a major upgrade: fiber optic cables covered in thick plastic, aka optical fiber

These cables crisscross the globe, totaling nearly 1.4 million kilometers (Telegeography, 2023) altogether. Yep, you read that right: 1.4 million kilometers split among 552 cables. Some cables are short, others crazy long, with the longest being the "Asia-America Gateway" system, stretching about 20,000 kilometers. The Internet might seem like magic because 98% of international Internet traffic travels through underground cables, and despite being a massive infrastructure, it's very well hidden.

If we're talking about the journey, we've got to talk about the destination: servers. These are the devices at the end of each cable we've been chatting about. They're spread out worldwide, working 24/7, 365 days a year, and basically, they're the ones fulfilling all your requests. Posting a photo, browsing a website, streaming a movie on Netflix, you name it—all thanks to these systems. Often, companies operating on the Internet (social networks, streaming platforms, clothing stores, etc.) have their own servers catering to their clientele's needs. But there are also cloud services (which are still servers, but remote), where you don't need a supercomputer of your own, accessing data through the network. It's like the Internet-ception.

LET'S MIX UP THE INGREDIENTS FOR THE MAGIC POTION

We've now completed the journey! Don't worry; we'll give you a quick rundown in case that medieval jetlag has you down:

When you hit "publish" on TikTok (just as an example), your device sends the data it needs (the music, your recording, the filter…) to the router or connection tower you're hooked up to, using TCP/IP protocols, with a set address compressed into little packets. They embark on a journey through the cables making up the network until they reach their destination: in this case, TikTok's servers. The server then reassembles those little data packets to figure out what you need, processes the video, stores the data, and sends a response that travels back through the cables to your connection point and then to your device. And voilà, video posted. It's a pretty complicated journey to narrate in just a couple of seconds, but it's no magic, that's for sure.

But hey, now you know the basics of how the Internet works. We didn't teach you how to build your own, but… that's for another day. Still, good luck with your medieval adventures. Maybe, with the right magic words, you'll get somewhere this time…