The internet has made the world smaller, connecting billions of people and opening up international markets as never before, but this does not mean we should lose sight of the importance of local businesses and groups.
The world may appear like it is moving to the cloud, with the likes of Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon dominating more and more of our lives and eroding national boundaries, but local remains as important as ever.
The past few decades has seen society move away from knowing their neighbours, but I have long argued that the future will see co-working spaces emerge on most streets, and local communities will rise once more. Many people can already work remotely, and while working from home has its benefits there is something beneficial about getting out of the house and to a working environment with less distractions.
Once you have the men and women of a street working alongside each other, albeit on utterly disparate businesses, then they will get to know each other and start forming those friendships that once held our communities together. No-one wants to commute, and as the economy goes online, there is less reason to – so people will start working and exploring their local shops once again, giving a rebirth to the high street.
The increase in awareness of food miles has already given people more of a reason to look locally for the produce they consume. And as the world finally recognises the impact of humanity on this world, this is likely to become a growing trend where people increasingly leave supermarkets to buy directly from farms and co-ops, or from the convenience of their local organic health food store.
Whether organic food is better is a question that continues to rage on, but local food where animals are better treated and the food has to travel fewer miels to reach your plate is always an improvement.
The internet then, for all its global scale, may actually be the technology that lets us redevelop close-knit local communities, where we support local businesses and local farmers.