UPDATE

On December 14th, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted along party lines to repeal the Obama-era protections on net neutrality. These regulations previously kept providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. One of the two Democrats, Mignon Clyburn, said, "I dissent, because I am among the millions outraged. Outraged, because the F.C.C. pulls its own teeth, abdicating responsibility to protect the nation’s broadband consumers.” At this point, it is still unclear how these rollbacks will play out in the daily life of internet users, aka all of us.

You've probably been hearing about and reading the term "net neutrality" a lot this week, and you're also probably thinking it has nothing much to do with your day-to-day life. That's where you'd be very wrong.

So let's break this down.

What is net neutrality?Most simply it is the idea, principle, or requirement that Internet service providers should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source, or destination. That means that your wireless company can't decide to serve up one website or streaming service faster than others. It's how we've all come expect the Internet to operate every time we're online, i.e., all day every day.

Why is everyone talking about it right now?Net neutrality has been in jeopardy since Trump won the presidency, but it's back in the news big time this week because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a proposed plan that will roll back regulations on net neutrality put in place by the Obama administration. Per The New York Times, "The rules prohibit high-speed Internet service providers, or ISPs, from stopping or slowing down the delivery of websites. They also prevent the companies from charging customers extra fees for high-quality streaming and other services." FCC chair Ajit Pai said in a statement, "Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the Internet. Instead, the FCC would simply require Internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them."

So what does that mean for me?Of course, nobody knows for sure how service providers will react if these rules are rolled back, but this means that technically they could charge content sites money to be part of Internet "fast lanes" where you won't have to wait for your video to play, etc. For example, say you get your Internet from Verizon. Verizon may charge companies like Netflix money to make sure the new season of "The Crown" streams without service interruption. And that cost may trickle down to you.

If streaming sites chose not to pay, the provider could legally make things run so slowly that they're basically unwatchable. They could also block access to competitors' sites. Like, if AT&T had a stake in a site…Verizon wouldn't have to let you see it. This could also means that the cool start-up shopping site or social platform you're obsessed with will run more slowly because they can't afford the big bucks to live in the "fast lane." I mean, who wants to imagine a world where Etsy never took off?

And then there's the way you pay for Internet in general. Most of us have a monthly package that covers everything we do from stalking exes on Instagram and binging Stranger Things to checking email and watching YouTube beauty tutorials. A world without net neutrality could see all those activities broken down into different service bundles, like this example from Portugal.

Viral videos? Those might be in trouble too. Since right now all data is treated the same, the chance that something a random person posts has just a good a chance of going viral as a video from a big brand. That could change. Comedian W. Kamau Bell recently wrote in the Times about how this could affect comics, artists, and activists for social change like #BlackLivesMatter: "Thanks to our current net neutrality rules, when people like this take their genius beyond Twitter, to the rest of the Internet, they don’t have to worry about whether it’s in a pay-to-play Internet “fast lane” that makes access to certain types of content easier. They’re in the same lane as everyone else, because net neutrality means there can be only one lane. ISPs can’t do anything to stand between them and the people they want to speak to, and we all benefit."

The vote is expected to be held by the commission on December 14, and in the meantime groups like the ACLU and companies like Apple, Netflix, and Facebook will be fighting to keep a free and open Internet.