Online and Offline
The terms "online" and "offline" primarily refer to the connectivity status of devices and users, particularly in relation to the Internet. An "online" device is operational and connected to a network, while an "offline" device is either non-functional or disconnected. In contemporary usage, these terms are often associated with various activities involving the Internet, such as online banking, shopping, dating, and gaming. The evolution of these terms began in the late twentieth century, initially used in telecommunications and computer science, but they have since become integral to everyday language, denoting whether users have Internet access.
Online activities typically involve transactions or interactions conducted through digital platforms, with online banking and e-commerce being notable examples. Conversely, offline activities refer to those that do not require Internet connectivity, though the term can also describe functions that can be completed without a computer. For instance, offline readers allow users to access previously downloaded web content without an active Internet connection. As technology continues to evolve, the definitions and applications of "online" and "offline" are likely to expand further, reflecting the dynamic nature of digital interactions in society.
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Online and Offline
In the information technology, telecommunications, and computer industries, the term "online" describes a device or computer that is functioning, powered, and connected to a network, while "offline" describes a device that is either not functioning properly or not connected to a network. In the twenty-first century, these terms have increasingly been used to refer to whether or not a person is connected to the Internet through a computer or mobile device.
Starting in the late twentieth century, the terms "online" and "offline" came to be used in conjunction with a variety of terms to refer to activities that involve using the Internet. Examples include online banking, online shopping, online dating, and online gaming. In particular, "offline," once signifying a malfunction in an automated system, came instead to be used to describe activities that take place either without Internet access or without a computer at all.
Background
The origins of the terms "online" and "offline" are somewhat obscure, though it has been suggested that they originated in the telegraph industry, where messages were sent through wires, called "lines," in the form of electrical signals. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the term "online," also spelled "on-line," to the United States railroad industry, where it was used to indicate proximity to or usage on a railway line.
During the 1980s, the idea of a device being online or offline became part of the common terminology used in computer science and telecommunications. In this context, "online" refers to connectivity to a physical computer network. For instance, a peripheral printer can be said to be online if the printer is functioning, powered, and connected to the physical computer network. A printer that is disconnected from the controlling computer would therefore be offline.
Due to the prominence of these terms in computing and telecommunications, the definitions of "online" and "offline" have been standardized by the US federal government. The United States’ first official nonmilitary glossary of telecommunications terms, Federal Standard 1037, was published in 1980 and subsequently revised several times. The third revision, Federal Standard 1037C, also known as Telecommunications: Glossary of Telecommunications Terms, was published in 1996. It lists standardized definitions for terminology related to the telecommunications industry, including "on line" and "off line."
Federal Standard 1037C was superseded in 2001 by American National Standard T1.523-2001, also known as Telecom Glossary 2000. This new standard was published by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), which issued new revisions in 2007 and 2011. However, Federal Standard 1037C is still occasionally used, as it is in the public domain, while the Telecom Glossary and its revisions are copyrighted by ATIS.
The ATIS Telecom Glossary 2011 provides four different but related definitions of "on-line" (with alternate spellings "on line" and "online"): (1) "pertaining to the operation of a functional unit when under the direct control of the system with which it is associated"; (2) "pertaining to equipment that is connected to a system, and is in operation"; (3) "the state or condition of a device or equipment that is under the direct control of another device"; and (4) "the status of a device that is functional and ready for service." The term "off-line" (no alternate spellings provided) has only two definitions: (1) "pertaining to the operation of a functional unit when not under the direct control of the system with which it is associated"; and (2) "pertaining to equipment that is disconnected from a system, is not in operation, and usually has its main power source disconnected or turned off."
The second definitions of both terms, above, reflect the fact that since the 1990s, they have increasingly been used to refer to whether or not a user or computer is connected to the Internet or otherwise has access to Internet communication. Internet e-mail and chat programs, for instance, may label users as "online" or "offline" based on whether the user is connected to the Internet and available for communication.
Online and Offline Today
As both terms increasingly became synonymous with Internet connectivity, "online" came to be used in numerous compound terms signifying activities conducted over the Internet. One common example is "online shopping," which the ATIS Telecom Glossary 2011 defines as "a process in which . . . goods and services are viewed remotely via electronic means . . . , items are selected for purchase, and the transaction is completed electronically with a credit card or an established credit account." Online shopping is part of a broader trend of online commerce, which includes all financial and business transactions that occur via computer or other telecommunications networks.
Similar to online shopping, the term "online banking" is commonly used to financial activities conducted through a website or other Internet service associated with a banking institution or credit union. The first such institution to offer its customers the option to conduct Internet-based transactions was the Stanford Federal Credit Union in Stanford, California, which introduced the service in 1994. Since then, online banking through websites and mobile applications has become standard in the industry. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, as reported on by Susannah Fox in 2013, 51 percent of adults in the United States use some form of online banking, while 32 percent do so using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. By 2023, this number had grown to over 66 percent.
Other activities for which "online" is used as a modifier to distinguish them from their offline counterparts include online dating and online learning. "Online dating" is a practice in which users search for romantic or sexual partners via dedicated websites or Internet services. Websites that offer to connect or "match" potential dating partners are sometimes called online dating services. The first online dating service was Kiss.com, established in 1994, but it was rapidly overshadowed by Match.com, which debuted the following year and, as of July 2014, remained the most popular online dating website in terms of unique visitors, according to an article by Eli Goodman for the interactive marketing website ClickZ. The Pew Research Center’s 2023 survey found that three in ten adult Americans had used some form of online dating.
"Online learning" refers to educational programs that are made available to users through remote access. Educational institutions began offering online learning options in the 1990s, and the advent of online classes has been a source of significant development in modern higher education. In 2021, studies showed that 61 percent of all undergraduate students were enrolled in at least one online course.
Online activities are also sometimes referred to by replacing the word "online" with the prefix e- (for "electronic"). Online learning, for example, has also been called "e-learning," while "e-commerce" is a more commonly used term for online commerce.
"Offline" may be used as a modifier to describe activities that predate their online counterparts—"offline shopping," for example—has yet to become common practice, as the unmodified word is, in most cases, still understood to refer to the offline version by default. However, it is occasionally used in reference to activities that typically involve Internet connectivity but can be performed without it. For example, an "offline browser" or "offline reader" is a program that downloads and stores web pages, e-mail, or other data from the Internet so that they can be viewed later while not connected to the Internet.
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