Long before local newscasters had to struggle with explaining Twitter and Facebook to their elderly audience, they had to struggle with explaining the internet. It wasn't enough to say that it was a network of connected computers. Too technical! Not bizarre enough, apparently!

 

"Cyberspace" is what some of them called it. Cyberspace sounded suitably science fiction-y, it had that "gee whiz" factor, and it paired well with the crazy-ass graphics that local news stations tend to put together. But there was also something sinister in its vagueness. Cyberspace is where they steal your credit card, it's where those hackers hang out, where they can see what you are doing at all times. 

 

And so, for stories that did not involve threats, the news needed a term that was friendlier. Familiar to the elderly. Comforting in its blandness. And thus the term "information superhighway" was born.

 

"Information Superhighway" must be one of the worst analogies ever coined.

 

 For one thing, it hugely limits your options for additional terms you can tack on to the metaphor for explanation. You are pretty much stuck with "on ramp," "rest stop" and "road sign." And none of those really maps well to, say, an email message.

 

For another thing, a "superhighway" is something you take to get TO your destination. The superhighway is, by its very nature, the boring thing you have to endure. It may be a somewhat apt (if clumsy) metaphor for the physical network and routing that makes the internet possible. But that's the kind of stuff that nerds like me are interested in. Explain DNS to your grandfather and see how far it gets you.

 

No, grandpa just wants to understand what a "www.cnn.com" is and how to get there. If you try to explain to grandpa that AOL is his on-ramp to the information superhighway, that's not going to help the situation at all. For one thing, it presumes that grandpa knows - or cares - about the difference between AOL, the internet, and the CNN website. A lot of people are still confused about this today - imagine how bad it was 20 years ago.

 

"Infobahn" was even worse. It was somebody's idea of adding some zazz to the Information Superhighway. It's like that, but it sounds foreign, and there are no speed limits. Get it? No limits! Exciting, right? Except that to old people, the idea of the Autobahn is terrifying. 

 

"Infobahn" combined two things that frightened the elderly: complicated computer stuff, and young kids driving too fast. Genius!