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(PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Sullivan/GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Happy Birthday to the Internet.

The system that has revolutionized almost every part of our lives turned 40 years old this week. October 29, 1969 was the first time people sent a computer-to-computer message. It was in California that UCLA Professor Leonard Kleinrock successfully connected the school's host computer to one at Stanford University.

The project had started a few years earlier: After Russia successfully launched Sputnik in the late 1950s, U.S. leaders stepped up funding to enter a technology race with their Cold War rival.

Fast forward 40 years - and It's pretty hard to imagine society without everything we're used to about the Internet:

E-mail, online shopping, video games, Google, bloggers, YouTube, and more recently social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The list goes on and on...

Of course there's also a dark side to the Internet - computer worms, viruses, the annoying e-mail spam, identity theft, online scams and fraud, child predators and pornography - not to mention the fact that the word privacy may never have the same meaning again.

At a 40th birthday party for the Internet, Kleinrock - who sent that first message - talked how it's a "democratizing element" and that everyone can have an equal voice. But he also says there's no way back at this point, and that "we can't turn it off."

Kleinrock says in the future, the Internet will be "present everywhere."

Kinda feels like it already is.

Here’s my question to you: How would your life be different without the Internet?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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From CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Pulitzer Prize winning author Larry McMurtry says he doesn't see kids reading anymore and never sees them in his book store. He thinks we're witnessing the end of the culture of the book, and he may be right.

Kids in the U.K. spend an average of six hours a day looking at screens.

Kids in the U.K. spend an average of six hours a day looking at screens while watching TV, on the internet or playing video games, according to a new report by ChildWise.

The annual survey across the U.K. found that kids ages 5 to 19 spend only half an hour a day reading a book while they spend nearly 3 hours a day watching TV, an hour and a half on the internet and more than an hour playing games on consoles.

Many parents justify the time their kids spend online as necessary for school work. Wrong answer. Only 9-percent of kids said they looked up something for school the last time they logged on. Instead they are on social networking sites, chatting with friends, playing games and watching You Tube videos.

Some experts say the result could be a generation unable to compete in the adult world later in life because they lack essential reading and writing skills. Others warn this is a dangerous digital divide between parents and kids that is widening.

Here’s my question to you: What's the risk of allowing children to spend six hours a day in front of computer screens?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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(PHOTO CREDIT: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES)

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

There's no denying that the internet has changed our lives. Information is just a click away and people get less sleep because they are logged on.

In fact, the internet is so popular that a lot of people prefer it to sex. Say what?

More than 2,000 adults were questioned in a survey by Harris Interactive. 46 percent of women said they'd rather give up sex for two weeks than give up internet access. Men, apparently, prefer sex a little more, only 30 percent were willing to practice abstinence versus losing their internet access.

But it's not just about sex - although without that hook we probably wouldn't have done this story. TV is loosing ground too... respondents said they'd be willing to give up two weeks of TV over one week of Internet use.

The survey was commissioned by microchip maker Intel to gauge America's reliance on the Internet. 87 percent of those questioned said the Internet saves them money - which could make the world wide web even more popular since we're in the midst of a recession and everyone is looking to save money any way they can.

Here’s my question to you: Which would you be willing to give up for two weeks: sex or the Internet?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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Pat from Lexington, Kentucky writes: 'I’m on CNN.com every weekday by 2PM and I miss you on weekends!'

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Before you rush to your computer and onto the Cafferty File blog to write in to us, consider this: you may just be addicted to the Internet.

Medill News Service reports that the Internet has become an out-of-control habit for more and more people. In fact, experts say that Internet addiction is a growing psychological and behavioral problem.

It's estimated that 5% to 10% of Americans may be addicted to the Internet – that could mean as many as 30 million people. And, it's an even bigger problem in other parts of the world. As many as 30% of the people living in China, Korea and Taiwan may be hooked.

The head of an outfit called the "Center for Internet Addiction Recovery" says the main kinds of internet addiction are: cybersex, online affairs, online gambling, online gaming, compulsive surfing and eBay addiction. For young people, online gaming is a particular concern.

There are now even special centers to treat this growing problem. Call it Internet rehab. Experts say some patients need 30 to 90 days in-patient treatment, followed by additional care. Like any other addiction, they say it requires lifelong treatment. There are also nonprofit groups – like "Online Gamers Anonymous" – meant to help Internet addicts.

Here’s my question to you: How can you tell if you're becoming addicted to the Internet?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

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