Internet traffic

Imagine that you want to send a letter to your friend who lives in another part of the country, but instead of mailing it, you want to send it through the internet. In order to do that, your letter needs to be broken down into tiny pieces called “packets”.

These packets contain different types of information like the recipient's email address, the subject of the email, the body of the email and any attachments.

Now, your letter-packets are ready to start their journey. They begin at your computer and are sent out over the internet, where they travel through many different paths (like different roads or highways) to get to your friend's computer.

Along the way, these packets may cross through different cities, states, and even different countries. They might even pass through many different types of devices like servers, routers, switches, and fiber-optic cables that help them reach their destination.

Once all the packets arrive at your friend's computer, they are all put back together to form your original email. Your friend can now read your message, and even write back to you by breaking down their message into packets and sending them back to you over the same internet highways.

All of this sending and receiving of packets is what is known as internet traffic. It flows constantly throughout the day and night and is managed by internet service providers and other organizations to ensure that everyone's packets get delivered quickly and efficiently.