It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. In the case of the Internet, it was necessary to have a government weapon during the Cold War (history channel). Government leaders feared that the Soviets would destroy the telephone system in the United States and that they would have no way to communicate. From the fear and need sparked by the Cold War came one of the greatest inventions of the 1900s. The Internet is without a doubt one of the most widely used services there is. It has 2,405,518,376 users and 70% of them access the Internet daily (gator cross). Why do all these people use the Internet? Because the Internet is convenient. This is the main reason why the Internet is so great. With the click of a mouse, a myriad of websites for virtually everything are accessible. Since the Internet is multifunctional, it is used for many different reasons, communication being one of the most important. Thanks to the Internet, email can be used by individuals to communicate. Email allows communication between businesses to be faster while remaining formal. According to Radicati, a technology market research company, more than 100 billion business emails were sent and received every day in 2013. Without the Internet, each of these emails would be sent individually. It is also a great way for individuals to communicate because it is free and accessible to anyone with access to a computer or other Internet-enabled device. The Internet is also important in the logistics field of communication. When packages are shipped, they are labeled with a barcode and each time the package enters a new part of the shipping process, the barcode is scanned. The package information collected from the barcode is...... middle of paper ......are the greatest inventions of the 1900s, like penicillin or the lie detector. While both of these inventions are great and necessary, I disagree. Yes, penicillin has saved many lives, and yes, the lie detector has convicted many killers and cheating husbands, the simple fact is that their reach is much smaller than that of the Internet. Far more people are affected by and use the Internet than will be affected by or use either of the other two inventions. And although penicillin and the modern lie detector will both eventually be replaced, the Internet is an ever-changing, ever-improving network that will not be easily cast aside. The variety of uses, the amount of use, the irreplaceability, the ability to adapt to a changing world and the convenience of the Internet make it unquestionably the greatest American invention in years 1900..