My 80 year old Grandmother and what the Internet is

The mind of an elderly person is quite simple, yet complicated and difficult to understand. My 80 year old grandmother once saw me browsing and requested to know what the Internet is all about. Explaining what the internet meant felt like a herculean task until I thought of this simple context.

Mama, think of the (Internet) as an empty large mass of land that has been in existence and one day someone discovers that land, and builds a fence around it. Interested persons needed access to the land and the only key to unlock and get into this land was called the Computer. The first persons to arrive on the land bought plots by the entrance. These plots were called sites/websites.

Some of these persons include Google, Bing and other Hosting Domains. Persons like Google opened a lot of activities on their on plot of land(websites). Hosting Domains acquired more lands than they needed with the purpose of selling it out to buyers with profit. As more persons came in and bought more lands, there was need to categorize the purpose of each site that was bought and created. 

Some bought the sites and opened up clothes stores, equipment, cooking appliances, computer accessories. Others used theirs to give out information, news, politics and state of the nation, while others used theirs for interactive sessions, entertainment, food and all that. There were similar land purposes as more plots were acquired. This is called niche. This is were Google and the likes come in and created a documentary listing every land-use (niche). Everyone who purchases a plot from the Hosting Domain has his or her land listed on Google and the likes.

As people moved in further to buy more plots, it became disadvantageous for persons who had their plots deep inside. It seemed easier to conduct any transactions with plots who where at the entrance gate. Google had that advantage. Persons who had their plots deep inside and needed to convince people to come to their sites began paying Google to tell their visitors that they exist. This made Google introduce what we now call Google Adsense. As Adsense grew, Google could no longer handle all the ads request coming to it and needed other sites to partake as long as they share the profit. Some sites became just like Google, they are called Search engines.

When you go on the Internet and ask any of these Search engines like Google, a question about something, they give you a list of sites where you can go and get a detailed answer to your question.

So Mama, that, in a nutshell, is what the Internet is all about.

Over to you. How would you explain the Internet to your grandmother?