What is data?
In this course, you'll learn how all the things you do on the internet come to your device in the form of data.
Data is just a way of measuring how much you use the internet each month. For internet providers, quantities of data used determines how much to charge for an internet service. And data is part of how we know if an internet connection is fast or slow.
In the following activities, you'll learn what data is, why you need data, why you might want to buy more data, how to buy more data, and how data is measured.
Watch this short video to get an idea of what data is and what uses the most data.
Transcript
Emails, web pages, text messages, photos, music, TV shows, and movies. All the things you do on the internet come to your device in the form of data.
The more you do on the internet, the more data you use. And the more data you use, the more you are likely to pay for your home or mobile internet.
Being aware of how much data you use can help you stay on top of costs.
Now, some internet activities use a tiny amount of data and others use a lot of data.
Reading a basic web page of text, sending an email or text message uses hardly any data at all.
Sending a photo from your phone or viewing web pages with pictures or maps uses a bit more data. So does listening to music or podcasts.
Video uses the most data. Short videos and videos with low- or medium-quality images use less data than high-quality videos. High-quality videos like modern TV shows and movies use the most data. One movie can use as much data as thousands of web pages.
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1
So, what is data?
6 min
2
How do I buy data?
7 min
3
How is data measured?
5 min