While the internet existed in various forms since the 1960s, the modern era of connectivity began on April 30, 1993, when CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) put the World Wide Web software in the public domain. Invented by Tim Berners-Lee, the Web used HTML, HTTP, and URLs to make the internet accessible to non-technical users. This event triggered an information revolution that fundamentally changed how humans communicate, shop, work, and learn. It led to the 'Dot-com bubble' of the late 90s and the subsequent rise of social media and the global digital economy. The democratization of information through the Web is considered one of the most significant social and technological shifts in human history, effectively ending the pre-digital age.