The internet does not mean “wires” any more than electricity means “wires”. It may use wires in places, but that does not define the concept.

Internet is just an interconnected network of computers. The connections between those computers can be wired with copper, wireless over radio, or they can use light through fiber optic cabling made of glass. The internet is about the concept of getting disparate / discrete machines to communicate, wires are just one of the tools it can use to do that.