Slashdot Mirror
Americans Using Internet 'Just for Fun'
Ant writes "CNET News.com reports that nearly one-third of American Internet users go online just for fun." From the article: "A survey of 1,931 Internet users conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project in late November and December 2005 found 30 percent of respondents said they went online "for no particular reason" on the previous day. That was up from 21 percent in a November 2004 survey. The survey also showed that 34 percent of online men were surfing for fun on an average day in December, compared with 26 percent of women."
That means that 2/3s are actually using it for actual work.
From the article: "A survey of 1,931 Internet users conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project in late November and December 2005 found 30 percent of respondents said they went online "for no particular reason" on the previous day. That was up from 21 percent in a November 2004 survey.
Poor saps.
I Slashdot with well-defined and concrete goals in mind.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
The survey also showed that 34 percent of online men were surfing for fun on an average day in December
Well, I guess looking at porn is fun...
...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA
"for no particular reason"
I thought it was spelled pr0n
Yeah, I saw a yard gnome once, it didn't scare me - Space Ghost
Seeing how much porn is on the Internet, and assuming Internet porn addicts have fun with it, I am suprized to hear that only 33% of the US surfers use the internet for fun
-- www.punkmusic.com
December seems like the month that has the most goofing off in it in general, in the lead up to Christmas. I wonder if they'd get the same numbers if they ran the survey this month.
This would describe about 30 hours out of my 40 hour work week.
I wouldn't call the hours and hours I've wasted at stupidvideos.com fun. Well, I guess I would.
firestream.net
As the fine folks of AvenueQ would say... "just grab your d*ck and double-click!" :)
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/internet4poCaution, parent comment is not safe for work.
What they mean is 1/3 of 0.0004% of American's use the internet "just for fun".
s/fun/pr0n/g and the article makes a lot more sense.
I run a Video blog site, and some of my favorite users are those who just show up to mess around ... like these guys from Canada or this gentleman in Korea (apparently currently visiting China)
The internet's great for "work", but it's not bad for just pure entertainment and relaxation either. Beats the hell out of TV, in any event.
Mooniacs for iOS and Android
Oh yes, absolutely. I'm sure those guys where surfing for... "fun"
With great numbers come great responsibility!
...about getting your ass handed to you by a bunch of 12 year old script kiddies in Counter-Strike.....
> "one-third of American Internet users go online just for fun."
According to my ISP (CenturyTel) the Internet exists solely for "entertainment and education".
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
That entire 1/3.
Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
The internet once was the domain of us old-school geeks. Now everybody and anybody is on and driving it to ruin.
One only need look at all the trolling which has infested USENET newsgroups.
It's time to create a new net for geeks only.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Considering the adult population has grown up not needing (or having) the internet for anything for a sizable chunk of their lives, it's no surprise that a significant percentage wouldn't be using it for things at home they have done without the internet for decades.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
I think they misspelled "Pr0n".
Here. Maybe you can deduct these from your taxes.
I'm here to help.
2000 users. More than this number of internet users can be found at any average sized University...
If the "survey" is made at a uni, maybe there will be a 100% of "using internet to study"...
Also if you go to a nurcery school, maybe there will be more than 60% of female surfers...
This surevy really says nothing at all..
Â_Â
I'm just reading it for the articles...
But do they stand up to lubricants, excessive friction, and, well, let say, proteins?
was "for no particular reason" equivalent to "just for fun"? Having fun is something we do impulsively, without wanting or needing a reason for it? Were that the case, this would be a country of incompetent, pleasure-seeking ignoramouses.
Oh, wait.....
"You will pay for your lack of vision..." - Emperor Palpatine to Ray Charles
I wouldn't consider "just for fun" the same as "no particular reason." In fact, the latter, which was the true response, could indicate that those people go online because they feel compelled to, sort of like an addiction.
The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.
They probably think they're online when they're watching TV.
How much did THAT survey cost?
Geesh that was money well spent!
maybe not for work, but its great if your at home alone.
A new study had found that 27% of studies reach obvious and/or useless conclusions. Researchers at the Duh Institute surveyed 7 people and asked them their opinion of a couple of selected studies including reports that:
1. People who are taking antidepressants tend to be depressed.
2. Cows emit a lot of methane.
and
3. 30% of Internet users go online just for fun.
Four of those surveyed were too depressed to respond, one told the researcher to sit down and finish his supper and two said "Not now, I'm updating my MySpace."
-Coach-
Perhaps the world's greatest tragedy is that ignorance is not impotence.
Ah yes. I know it seems impossible, especially for those who've failed statistics & probabilies classes, to make target populational inferences from a survey population. But it is quite possible and quite common.
Using well-established statistics and probability, it is mathematically safe to say that within some given margin of error--three percent is common--that if you asked every single Anerican the same question, their responses would match the surveyed population.
Note that this populational response accuracy does not speak to whether the question is formed in a neutral, accurate manner that elicits meaningful responses from the survey population. The statistical accuracy can just say that given this (well-formed or poorly-formed) question, this target population's response will follow the survey population's response.
I'm sure mnost of us are almost always within a few feet of an internet connection.
When I'm at work, or at home, I've got machines with 24/7 internet connectivity. I use the internet to check my mail, the weather, any news updates, settle disputes, find out things, look around to kill time, verify syntax of command, read movie reviews, and practically every thing else.
Sometimes I'll go over to my home machines, and just check about a half a dozen tabs in Mozilla which are always up just to see if anything new happened since the last time.
For many of us, the internet has become ubiquitous, and just sort of always there. It's hard to nail down any one specific reason why I'm connected. It's just there all of the time.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I don't go online to have fun, I go online to play Everquest!
I take my porn very seriously. It makes me somber and contemplative. Fun it is not. Nope. Really.
From Dec 1 to Dec 23 is spent surfing web sites trying to figure out what I'd like for Xmas. Dec 24 is spent figuring out what I should get other people. Dec 25 is a break from web surfing to play all the video games received that day. And Dec 26 to Dec 31 is spent surfing web sites trying to figure out with the money and gift vouchers received on Dec 25.
"The White House is not an intelligence-gathering agency," -- Scott McClellan, Whitehouse spokesman.
Well, I went online today for "no particular reason", and just happened to stuble across this article in my RSS reader. I wasnt out LOOKING for articles on how people waste time on the internet.....
(on a side note, i'm sure that those 66% that DID have a reason, that reason would be pr0n... oh wait, why the hell am I still on slashdot?)
And I wonder if anyone would care?
He's talking about the Slashdot Effect.
my password really is 'stinkypants'
I still have trouble understanding why too much fun is bad. It's the child in me that hasn't let go of the idea.
"30 percent of respondents said they went online "for no particular reason" on the previous day"
This survey found what people claimed they went online for. How many were actually going online to look for something (discussion with people, interesting articles, etc.) but weren't aware of this? Don't make the mistake of taking survey results as anything beyond "this is what people responded with when asked these questions".
I was using the net "for fun" back in 1994.
if the rest of you don't either stop, or pay up, I will be required to demand that you stop.
and for those that were using it before 94. my later usage wins anyway, deal with it.
After viewing this article ... I felt it was skewed ... ... when you ask them why they're on the internet, they ... "to check my email" ... they're ... "to play games, chat, etc."
I believe that a large number of users don't understand that
you have to be ON THE INTERNET to CHECK YOUR EMAIL
so
aren't going to respond
going to respond
Just my opinion.
Of course people are going online just for fun. The internet is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. It's just a medium.
Why do you read books? Is it purely for research purposes, or are you just having fun?
Why do you go to the mall? Are you there strictly for purchasing things, or are you also there to have fun?
What the national media has not seemed to grasp yet is that the Internet is not some spooky alternate reality with a different set of rules than the real world (for most people). It's just a way of moving information back and forth and communicating. Yes, it's the first medium to combine those two purposes. But people don't use the Internet just to use the Internet... they're just doing something that happens to be on the Internet. Asking why people go online is about as insightful as asking why people wake up in the morning.
Why do you wake up in the morning? Is your life just to work and make money to provide for yourself and your family, or do you also like to have some fun?
It's just a means to do other things, people. Some of us do work on it, some of use play on it, and most people do both.
For security, the MD5 hash of this message and sig is 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0.
[i]respondents said they went online "for no particular reason"[/i]
That's why [i]I'm[/i] here.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
More and more I find that I have exhausted the Internet. I find nothing more of interest of that I want to do, and mindless browsing gets old. Back to the TV...
Translation: more men then women use the internet to download porn. Plus, people are much more likely to admit in a survey that "I use the internet just for fun" than "I use the internet to download port".
This must have been an internet survey... The numbers don't add up correctly.
Why is it that 33.3% of all people surf the internet for fun
34% of all Males surf the internet for fun
26% of all Femalse surf the internet for fun
52% of the population is females.
If it was an average sampling, you would have (0.52 * 0.26) + (0.48 * 34) = 29.84%
I bet the survey was taken online, where statistically more men are online to begin with.
(Gotta admit that's a bit ironic)
Wow. And in related news, there are people who watch TV for fun, too. Who would've guessed?
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
s/fun/porn/
Fun would be a particular reason to go online. Saying that one has no particular reason for going online is saying that one may have more than one reason for doing so, not necessarily just "fun."
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
So much for all the Slashdotters who solemnly proclaim, "I want the Internet to supply me with *information,* not gaudy Flash cartoons." I've said it before and I'll say it again -- broad though the Slashdot userbase is, there are other people with other concerns.
One nitpick: who "goes" online anymore? Hey everybody, let's go online!
// This is not a sig.
I am proud to say that 1/3 of us surf as 9/10 of us live. Used to be, back in the day, that only the more athletic, outgoing types got to have fun, but thanks to the miracles of technology, the pocket-protector and taped glasses set gets to fritter away our lives idly as well. Ah the miracles of technology....
I myself dream of the day when all the people of the world can sit at home in a dark room, untouched by soap or natural light, listlessly reloading slashdot and the onion, and googling in the hopes that they'll find something new and interesting. It is this persistant optimism that there is a better way to be lazy that is at the very heart of American culture, and this is the greatest gift we have to give the world.
... considered looking at pr0n to be a meaningful activity, rather than "fun" or "no particular reason".
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
I didn't realize WoW subscriptions were quite that high yet. Impressive. =)
-Chris
Time IQ - Web Based Time Tracking
Assuming this survey was online, it's flawed.
;)
How many of us take the time to actually fill out internet surveys? Of those, I'd say a high percentage of them are the type to only use the net "for fun."
Personally, I hate being pigeonholed by marketers.
A new survey reports that nearly 100% of Slashdot readers read it just for fun. From the article: "A survey of 1 Internet user conducted by [...] in late December 2005 found 100 percent of respondents said they went to Slashdot "for no particular reason" on the previous day. That was up from 0 percent in a November 2004 survey. The survey also showed that 100 percent of Slashdot men were commenting for fun on an average day in 2005."
Wasting time is the particular reason!!
Men need some way to get themselves warm in winter don't they?
Hahaha! Porn pornity porn porn porn! The joke here is that the internet has porn on it! Haha! I made a funny. Excuse me a moment while I go change my pants.
Please, people!
At any rate, it's another one of those surveys that attempts to rigorously show what we all already know. People use the internet as a medium for social interaction. Whoopee.
I'm a little worried, though, that computer users answered "fun" because they had no idea what they were doing on the internet. That's probably unfounded, though. Most of them are probably members of the thronging myspace jackass horde.
This just in; There is STILL no cure for cancer. According to elaborate and expensive research on the chances of the cure being found any time soon, there won't be one for quite a while.
Americans also drink when they are thirsty and eat when they are hungry.
It's time to create a new net for geeks only.
I thought that place was called Slashdot!
"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair" - George Washington
Fun is fundamental issue in our lifes, it's quality time. It's a good thing people have fun.
The other 90% are really teriffic liars.
It's sounds like television, except for the difference at the Time-Warner switchboard when the tv signal goes out versus the cablemodem light.
eighty percent of the time i just surf and chat and exchange email with friends (fun), the other twenty percent of the time i do accounting (work)...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Let's not go crazy now.
Brainwash the masses into submission with mind numbing entertainment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Global_Trap
Haven't read the book (heh, too busy stashing my pr0n), but I think 80% welfare is a bit too unbelieavable. How is that possible? If the term 'welfare' could be extended to jobs that actually don't keep you alive... then most of the world is already there.
My other SIG is a Sauer.
Looking at the actaul survey data from the Pew Internet Project, it looks like broadband connections play a role. The use of "Internet for Fun" has gone up almost consistently with the increase in ownership of broadband Internet.
fun == pr0n
At my high school, they use WebSense and a decent user policy to avoid any "fun". Nobody uses the computers for fun anymore since it has become impossible to message a friend, check email, or watch funny videos.
Although this is not a full american sample, it's still agreeing with the idea of "just for fun" browsing.
"I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm."
You know you can take degrees in CS now.. the half-life generation has grown up and got jobs!
Ignorance of basic stats & probs is NOT insightful! C'mon now, we're supposed to be the bright crowd!
I think those who are not using it 'Just for fun' wont be taking that surve ... right?
Modding me 'insightful' is just 'sad'.
http://www.satirewire.com/news/0010/international. shtml
I mean who would respond to a poll replying that they only use the internet for porn.
Longcat is looooooooooooooooooooong!
2GET
Balls aren't touching.
(c) Jax
I'M GEORGE ZIMMER, FOUNDER AND CEO BLAH BLAH BLAH I GUARANTEE IT.
Cock goes where?