The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Internet Age, and Information Era) is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously. The idea is linked to the concept of a "Digital Age" or "Digital Revolution," and carries the ramifications of a shift from traditional industry that the Industrial Revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based around the manipulation of information.