Blog Post #4 – What would happen if the internet never existed?

Hello everyone! The second part of my research is about the ways people became successful and wealthy over the past decades. I will first talk about what people did to become wealthy in America during the late 19^th century – mid-21st century. Then I will talk about some ways that people become rich in our generation, and I will also cover what millionaires and the mindset they have in common to keep their money and grow it. In the end, I will mix the ways of the past and our time to create ways to make money that are reasonable for a world without the internet. Now, let’s get right into it!

Methods during the 19^th century – mid-20^st century

Agriculture used to dominate the American economy. After the North’s Civil War which ended near the end of the 19^th century, industry quickly replaced agriculture, having the working class move from farms to urban areas. They had to endure dangerous and life-threatening working conditions for only working on one task endlessly for hours because machines could take on certain tasks. businessmen became wealthy by gaining control of entire industries and being able to exploit the working class. Some industries from which wealthy people got their money were steel mills, railroads, and banks. (1) From the early to mid-20th century, Radio, TV, and press releases came to be, and they were popular in society as a channel from the Radio could reach a high of 120,000 radio listeners within 30 minutes. For the TV, the most popular channel of the day, which was called TVM, could reach 220,000 in 30 minutes of a day. With so many people using those sources of entertainment, just imagine how much the superiors got paid for doing types of leisure. (2)

Methods of today

It is easier to find resources and advice as on the internet, you can find anything you need. A study by Fidelity Investments found that 88% of all today’s millionaires are self-made, meaning inheritance did not help most people. Millionaires put their money in places where their money is going to grow, such as their primary residence, mutual funds, stocks, and retirement accounts. Having multiple streams of income is important because if one source of income doesn’t work out, another one can take its place. (3) There are countless ways that people use the internet to make money, whether a large or small amount. Some are free such as starting a YouTube channel, creating blogs, and becoming an influencer. They are something that you can start and create for free and make a profit from it just from people viewing those things that you do. It’s also easier for people to reach out to others since the internet is a main source for people to discover and learn things, such as social media, people can promote their businesses and reach out to people who have similar interests, thanks to the algorithms that apps have, such as advertisements. (4)

Potential Internet-less methods and circumstances

Combining both eras, we already know that most of the methods of our time would not work because of the ways we use the internet. I think everything would be about the same, but the recognition of businesses and people would decrease a lot as there wouldn’t be a place where people can discover things within seconds, without paying tons. People would also have more restrictions on what they want, as you wouldn’t be able to purchase things online, so options would be a lot more limited. The circumstances would also change drastically. One of the biggest differences would be the way and quality of advertisements. The level of advertising and easiness of promoting would drop significantly, as the Internet is a global thing, but Internet-less advertisement wouldn’t be able to spread nearly as fast as the Internet. It would be harder for businesses to reach their target audience as they would have to stick to traditional forms of advertising, such as billboards, flyers, and television commercials. More challenges would approach businesses for collecting and analyzing data, which would have an impact on strategy and decision-making. (5)

Thank you for reading my blog! – Po Yiu Yau

My sources:

1. https://www.investopedia.com/gilded-age-7692919
2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-investing-both-online-offline-strategies-gordon-borg-urso
3. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2871-how-most-millionaires-got-rich.html
4. https://mailchimp.com/resources/make-money-online/
5. https://medium.com/@muhahmadch2004/what-if-the-internet-had-never-been-invented-the-impact-on-society-and-business-da32cec65996#:~:text=People%20would%20have%20to%20rely,less%20efficient%20and%20more%20restrictive