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Internet Use Becomes More Purposeful
tacocat writes "An article in the The Christian Science Monitor talks about the changing use of the Internet. They cite a report from The Pew Internet and American Life Project that talks about people Getting Serious Online. The study is continuation of people they have been following already and found that people are using the Internet more often for serious matters and issue of utility, rather then just for fun."
So the novelty has worn off to an extent. Now people are looking at what one can actually do with the Net. Art is becoming science, and science is becoming practice. Sounds like a good indicator to me. Of course, we all knew this was going to happen.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
It's about time Mr. and Ms. Anybody find out that the Net is more than just mp3s and pr0n. Students can use it as research, scientists and other technical jobs can use it as reference... it's a whole well of information out there, so why shouldn't anybody use it?
I want to drop her a quick message... but no e-mail to reach her.
Let her know how to get a quick bit of info on something... but no Web.
I have to rack up long distance charges to talk to her: no IM.
Email, the Web, and IM ALONE justify the purchase of a new computer (or even better, a $50 old one) and $20/mo dialup service. I can honestly say that life would be a real pain in the ass without the Net.
dinner: it's what's for beer
Ever since the Dot-Bomb, people are beginning to realize that the internet is not for 'play time'. Sure, you can find more Porn and weblogs here than anywhere else. But increasingly there has been a need for remote access into your companies machines. EMail, E-Signatures, and other electronic anomolies have become legally binding.
But that is not all....
What else could you expect, the internet has grown-down to a commodity internet from an educational network, then grown-sideways to a monopolistic, control-your-lives, all-your-minds-are-belong-to-media internet.
So you see, its all about Theft, Porn, and Work. Welcome to the USA.
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The people originally putting it together in the pre-web days certainly thought it was all about function and not recreation.
Cheers,
Ian
For some reason I was drawn to this. The report has a section on "What people find annoying." Without much suprise, many are stating that Spam is becoming highly problematic. The most annoying of the spam being considered sales solititation. They also have this to say about 'adult' spamming:
We also probed into a particular type of spam that is often cited as an annoyance to Internet users-messages with adult content or from adult Web sites. More than half-56%-of U.S. email users have at one time or another received an email from an adult Web site or that contained adult content. Twenty percent report that this occurs often, with Internet veterans twice as likely as novices to receive such messages (24% for veterans versus 12% for novices). The greater incidence for veterans is likely to be nothing more than a reflection of the number of years they have been online. Their more extensive surfing habits increases the chances that traces of information identifying their email addresses have been picked up by these sites.
One has to wonder if the veteran Internet users are just more likely to look for porn. After all, everyone I met during High School who went on the Internet always followed it up by "You can get free pictures of naked women there!" Well, not everyone, but all of the non-computer geeks at least. Food for thought.
The Section.
How many people out there still have those musty smelling bound dead-tree editions of the encyclopedia sitting on their shelves? Ok...how many would buy a new set?
For most, the internet is their encyclopedia. When I want to know about something, I turn to the internet first (granted not all of the information is good...or decent for that matter).
The point is, the internet will always be both serious and fun. It's a place where we get information about the world , our hobbies, our health and our games.
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
I have been online since before there was an online. (do gopher and ftp count?) The Net has always been useful AND fun. Why does there have to be a distinction? I think some of what we used to call fun has for some reason become legitimate
- It used to be cool to be able to see weather radar images, now it is useful
- It used to be cool to go to IMDB and look up your favorite movies - now it is useful
- It used to be fun to chat with people, now it can be essential.
I don't think much has changed, it has just grown. There are more useful things, and there are more fun things. There are more boring things. There is just more.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.