Commemorating the Digital Era: The Story behind May 17th, World Internet Day

Let’s be honest and say that the year is full of days that sound like a joke. Yesterday, for example, was International Day of Light. What does that mean? You’ll have to find out by entering our article.

Fortunately, today, May 17, is much more important and it makes sense that it exists. Because without the Internet we would not be here and humanity would not have advanced in the last 30 years at the dizzying pace at which it has.

The Internet by itself means nothing. But with our effort and hunger for sharing and acquiring new knowledge, we humans have made it the most powerful tool in history.

World Internet Day

World Internet Day is celebrated every year on May 17. The history of this day is very curious, since at first it was designated a completely different month and day.

World Internet Day was first celebrated on October 29, 2005. Shortly afterwards, at the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis in November 2005, it was decided to propose to the UN the designation of May 17 as World Information Society Day.

As a result, Spanish-speaking countries (Spain, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, etc.) now celebrate Internet Day on May 17, while Anglo-Saxon countries continue to celebrate it on October 29.

This is not new, it’s like Mother’s Day, they celebrate it on May 14 while we celebrate it on the first Sunday of May, whichever day it falls. Hispanic and Anglo-Saxon things.

#ManifiestoCiudadanidaDigital#diadeinternet#ddi2023
Suscribir manifiesto: https://t.co/m7J7QfxiFM pic.twitter.com/xgPmwk2R7W

— #diadeinternet, 17 de mayo Día Mundial de Internet (@diadeinternet) May 14, 2023

What is celebrated on May 17

Today is a day to celebrate how important the Internet is in our current knowledge society, to remember that we must take care of the network and that we must always be very careful when we surf.

A safer world may be possible, but to do so we have to make it safe ourselves: learn to set strong passwords, activate two-step verification, not to fall for phishing attempts, etc.

And, finally, use VPNs, which help to make our traces more difficult to follow and protect us from undesirable hackers.

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