The Internet Is a Massive Delivery System

Imagine you’re sending a photo to a friend in another country.
Your computer doesn’t send it as one big file — it cuts it into tiny digital envelopes called packets.
Each packet is labeled with:

• Source address (your computer’s “return address”)
• Destination address (your friend’s device)
• Payload (the part of the photo it’s carrying)

Routers — the “traffic officers” of the Internet — check each packet’s address and decide the fastest route to send it.
Packets may travel through different countries or servers before reassembling at the destination.