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U.S. Internet Growth Stalling
abb_road writes "Internet usage is predicted to grow by only 1% in 2006, with uptake slowing even more in subsequent years. The article examines causes for the slowdown, including individuals who are actively choosing to not be online. These non-users cite a number of reasons for their decision, including cost and increased productivity. Is this simply a combination of luddites and a statistical quirk, or is the Internet reaching its saturation point in the U.S.?"
From the article, "Goodwin knows how easy it is for Big Brother to gain access to personal information." This one reason for not using the Internet is a perfect example of pure ignorance in regards to privacy. I bet this person has no problem handing a credit card to the waitress, gas station attendant, or retail clerk. How do these oh so careful people combat a waitress, gas station attendant, or retail clear from making note of the credit card number, three digit security code on the back, and expiration date and then selling it to a friend or using it themselves?
there's only so much porn you can watch....
I'm sure spam, phishing scams, and annoying ads also play a role in the barrier for growth.
There's also my personal reason (for not getting online AS MUCH anyway) -- I sit at a computer
all day at work, why would I want to do more of that in my spare time?
I find it is eating into my TV time.
Or is it still possible to live without using the Internet? I would certainly think so. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any turning back for me (or any other Slashdotter, for that matter). I can only change my Internet usage habits, but I can't stop using it.
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
What is the growth rate of broadband availability?
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Its like after opening day in baseball when a third of the players in the league are projected to bat .500 with 162 homeruns and 400+ RBIs.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
My usage has dropped drastically in the last few years, primarily due to the commercialization, ads, scams, pop-overs, etc. I realize that these people need to make money too, but in general, it just seems things have been commercialized to the point of irritation.
There's still lots of interesting stuff out here, it's just getting less worthwhile to look for it.
I've made a conscious decision to abstain from Internet usage. Don't have it, don't need it, don't want it.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Anyone who wants Internet access pretty much has it. Besides, there are so many people in this coutnry anyway.
End of discussion. Really.
When is the last time you told someone to google something (most likely to get them off your back) and they said, "Oh, I don't use that interweb thing."
I suspect that the two main reasons for any increase in the number of people using the internet in the US at this point is due to the fact that more people are being born than dying, and likely also has to do with the number of immigrants.
Coincidentally, the numbers on the CIA Factbook give me 1% when taking these things into consideration.
QED???
1984? That's a bit of a stretch. There, the government controlled all communications; I don't think any one government can control the Internet. It's spread across the globe and even repressive governments allow limited access.
Her problem is that she's bought into the media hype over the problems on the Internet. It's not like there are none, but if she's worried about her personal information, does she throw out sensitive documents (pay stubs, credit card bills, etc.) without shredding them? Perhaps she's handed her card over to a cashier, not realizing it's being double swiped. Does she carry on cell phone conversations out in public, blithely giving away personal details anyone in earshot can hear?
The problem is not the Internet, but the people on the Internet, specifically the con artists, scammers, and criminals who now have a new way of fleecing honest citizens. As long as the media contnues to blow every story out of proportion, Internet growth will die out.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
The Internet has to be worth it for those:
-Who don't want to get viruses
-Who don't want to get spam
-Who don't want to pay $50 a month for fast Internet
-Who don't want to mess with computers at all
When someone's computer gets all screwed up with viruses they often buy another computer to work around the problem. Maybe it's time to upgrade anyway, but sheesh that's a big investment just to surf the net.
The biggest thing that would get *me* off the Internet is the monthly $50 cost. Cable is the only option where I live, and Adelphia won't give us a break.
From TFA:
""If you're spending all your time on e-mail, you're not listening and reading," says Rogers, who rarely took lecture notes while he was a student so he could listen more intently. "I listen and read; e-mail is a huge distraction.""
Uh, I wonder how he thinks you are supposed to absorb email - osmosis?
Steve
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
For whatever reason, when I explain how to do something to my mother, she insists on writing it down in a notebook, step by step. If I try to explain a process with multiple paths to the solution, she tends to get confused quite easily (e.g. you can either click the print icon on the toolbar or go to file->print and select that option).
She is 59.
This is just empiricle evidence of course, but the nature of multiple paths, whether its the computer's interface or the sorting through the billions of results on Google, really seems to confuse the older generation.
In some respects, my mother seems to do better when she one definitive research source, and one path to a solution.
This would at least provide an incentive for people to sign up and start using the internet.
Then, you can show them Google, Wikipedia and Slashdot and they may never leave.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Articles like Businessweek's only reinforce the incorrect perceptions of the ignorant. It would only take one "by the way," sentence in articles like these to help get even a tiny sliver of truth into people's minds - the Net is as safe (or unsafe) as you make it. By getting online, you are not automatically exposing yourself to any dangers you would otherwise never experience. It is what you do with your own information online that creates, or eliminates, security risk.
Rex is 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Bill Gates is probably personally responsible for the reticence of large numbers of potential Internet users and ex-users.
Between difficult to use features, hardware incompatibilities, non-intuitive settings and choices, then spam, virii, adware, phishing, etc, I have seen people give up on the Internet, because they simply couldn't figure out all of Gates BS.
I switched one friends wife to an iBook, and she (also a newbie) has had little problem, and it makes him a bit envious. He is reluctant to try anything new at this point, as Windows was so hard to deal with.
For the average users it is only one thing that is important: EASE OF USE.
Once new applications and uses appear, the growth in the use of the Internet will continue. We've run out of users for the current applications and uses of the Internet. The way to tap into more users is to create more and different things that can be used.
It's still costly to get a decent connection. Where I live I have a good ISP that provides quality DSL service with support (unlike ATT/SBC which has what has to be the worst customer support on the planet), but even with all of that I'm paying $60/month for my DSL. Once the long term contracts with ATT expire I'm certain that ATT will 'screw my ISP to the wall' so that I'll need to choose between a $60 ATT line with the worlds worst service, or an $85 (or higher) line from my IPS, or I can get on Comcast's 1000 household per subnet cable connections. The future looks dim.
I have friends who live paycheck to paycheck, and $720 per year for internet access is something they can do without.
Eschew Obfuscation
... The fact you STILL can't get High speed access in large portions of the US. I moved around 2 mile about 2 years ago. I used to live THREE miles East of MCI/Worldcom and AOL's world headquarters and I could NOT get HSIA. This was, at the time, the fasted growing county in the US, and I could tell you for a fact that 1/2 the homes couldnt' get HSIA.
This doesn't seem to be the problems with other countries for some reason. I guess their comunications companies actually want to make money on selling internet access, too bad ours doesn't.
When you OWN the politicians, you cna jsut sit back and charge 10 times the amount for similar service in other countries and you don't have to lift a finger to increase your service area. Why do work when you can get the politicians to pass laws allowing you to do nothing to add user access and charge out the wazzoo.
Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"
I'm going back to NNTP, FTP, and gopher.
See ya on the flip side
Why read the article when I can just make up a snap judgement?
You really think that if you post something (that you wrote) on your blog that someone is going to sue you for copyright infringement? You may have valid points about copyright being "out of hand", but if you seriously think that more than, say, five people in the world cancel their internet out of fear of being sued for infringement, you need to seriously get a grip on reality.
If you are in the content creation business, different story I suppose. But getting out of a particular business does not require ceasing to use the internet at all.
The "AWE and AMAZEMENT" of the internet is over in the US. The boom days of the late 90's and early 00's are also over... or more to the point... we got what we wanted (email and the web for those that wanted it). From a personal perspective, I use the internet less now than I did 2-3 years ago. I think we are starting to balance out...
and some don't even have plasma screens.
Savages!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I live in San Francisco where you'd think the Internet was as pervasive as the air we breathe, and to some degree it is. But I'm originally from Wyoming, (no broke back mountain jokes please) and I can tell you that most people there don't have computers.
What they do have however, is Playstations and Xbox's. The reasons why are numerous. Cost, lack of options, etc.
I believe that the next generation consoles, particularly the PS3, along with Ajaxy Web 2.0 and the continued proliferation of broadband to the home, will truly start to bring the Internet to the masses.
A computer is still intimidating and a tough sell to a lot of these people... but a $300 game machine that your 4 kids are begging for, that's an easy sell.
Once they discover that it has a decent web browser and that there's a whole new world of communication and content out there... then things will start to really grow.
According to the article, a significant number of people say "access at work is sufficient."
That's a rational economic decision. 8 hours a day for reading personal email and blogging should be enough for most people.
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
When dealing with a computer problem, I look for 8 solutions. When my wife wants my help with housework, she's learned that the trick is to give me "explicit" instructions, without multiple paths. Likewise, when she is doing something on the computer, once she learns an approach, she normally keeps doing it without considering other options.
It's not about being old or slow, it's about "do you care about this?"
She likes to cook, she'll work on 10 different ways to make a chicken and rice meal. I can make rice, only because she told me what to do once. BTW: while I'm sure there is a way to make rice in the microwave, I've never explored it, and in fact, I use the same pot each time.
If you don't care to "learn" how something works, you develop a process. I have no interest in learning how to cook, so I don't learn options, I just learn what to do.
You are interested in computers, therefore, you find a path. I bet when it comes to laundry, someone taught you how to wash your shirts once, and you've never experimented with different combinations of hanging the clothes to dry or running the dryer, have you? My mom could teach you all the ways to make different types of shirts require more/less ironing and different levels of softness, but I don't care. In college, I memorized settings for each shirt type, and never experimented.
Alex
Good point. Computers are intimidating to most end users that I deal with on a daily basis. They are all so afraid to 'mess something up' that most of them do not take full advantage of the services our IT dept has to offer. Having a console that you cannot mess up without physical damage sounds like a better idea to your average end user who wants nothing more than to surf the web anyway. The toughest sell I believe will not be the four to five hundred bucks on the console, but the monthly forty to fifty Mom and Dad will have to shell out. The people that are willing to pay for broadband have it, but those who do not want to spend that money do not. Maybe if the price was right, they would pick it up. This also leads to another question - since broadband access is so widespread now have the prices cheapened enough to bring in those that think it has been too high? My monthly subscription price hasn't dropped...
Victory shall be mine!
My mother lives out in the middle of nowhere (nearest town is over 15 miles away). I brought her a computer so she could access the internet and e-mail me. Well, it turns out that there is not an ISP with an access number that is local to her. So, no net access (she can't afford the long distance). There are still plenty of people who live in areas like that.
I'm 17, and the internet really does cut into alot of time I could be using for better things. I mean, I hate shit like myspace and I do have a blog, but rarely do I post to it. Honestly, it's trying to just keep up with all the news I read, and a few forums I'm addicted to, and the occasional IM. But all of those things add up when you're a student, no matter if it's college or not. I personally get wrapped up too much in the headlines for science, or what's coming in the new (X desktop environment of any sort). So I care less about what's important.
space is pretty cool.
The cost of basic living necessities are going up (gas for transportation, electricity for the home, misc. utilities rising) to the point that serious budgeting is taking place. My household already gave up on cable TV (our 2nd year), landline phone access (no cheap DSL), 60F thermostat settings for the winter and relegating the SUV only to short hops or when professionally needed (I'm a regular gigging musician lugging around huge speakers - it's a legit use). Saving that $60 per month (Comcast cable modem) really makes a difference. And for the majority of what I use the internet for, I can do it easily enough through my day job. Hell, I even use an iMac because - well 1 of the reasons ;-) - it only has a 70 or so watt powersupply compared to a 300-500W PC desktop psu.
A major factor of internet growth slowing is due to corporate greed. Costs everywhere are too high when factored into the rest of the average US citizens budget. The bottom is soon going to collapse - I can't wait.
Well if anything's going to turn me off using the Net (well the Web anyway) it's things like the full-page ad that interupts viewing of the referenced article.
I notice that Wired.com has also started spitting those annoying ads recently too.
When confronted with such an ad I just hit the back button and don't return.
I'm happy to accept banner ads (even skyscrapers) but any site that dishes up pop-up/under/over ads and full-page interstitials immediately gets crossed off my list of "sites worth visiting"
Am I the only one who got that ad on the BWO site -- or doesn't anyone else care that the Net is becoming increasingly like TV in respect to the intrusiveness of advertising?
I think that the lack of useful applications of the internet is finally overtaking the novelty factor. While not a luddite, (mostly) I don't even bother with email anymore, and only use the web to read news, get driving directions and order pizza. Where at one point $50/mo seemed reasonable for high speed, I now balk at spending $15/mo for DSL.
People who think they know everything really piss off those of us that actually do.
The article fails to mention how the U.S. stacks up with other first world countries. My guess is that we're pretty far behind. Let's face it, the U.S. is a great place to live, but only if you are in the lucky half with adequate finances and education. So much for the tide lifting all boats. "Fuck you, I got mine," is pretty much the American mindset these days. It's probably the precise attitude expressed by the passengers on board the Titanic as it sank into the ocean. Kind of sad.
---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
Note: Ken_g6, this isn't aimed at you - your tips are spot on...
If you know what you are doing, have no qualms about "dumpster diving", and are willing to get up off the couch for a weekend to peruse business park/office building dumpsters - most of the time you can get enough working parts for a computer - for free!
Indeed, if you work for any business with a large enough IT department, and are nice to the IT staff, you can sometimes get whole systems for nothing. The last company I worked at, I managed to grab tons of old hardware - most of the machines in my house are made from scrap they gave me.
I can't tell you how much hardware can be found just by looking at dumpsters behind office buildings and in business parks (another tip - if your municipality has "bulk-trash-pickup", browse around "rich area" of town when their scheduled dates are near - rich people are somtimes idiots when it comes to computers, and tend to throw out 1-2 year old boxes and buy new when they get infested with spyware). Make sure you have a truck (small 4-banger pickup will do), and some scruffy clothes on (jeans, gloves, boots, hat, t-shirt, etc - remember, you will be working with garbage), and just tell any security you are moving and need boxes - most will go away. If they persist, appologize and leave immediately. If you find some stuff, grab it and take it home before grousing elsewhere (hard to pull the "just-moving-and-need-boxes" bit when you have 19 inch rack in the back of your pickup). If you need more parts, Goodwill, other thrift stores, and helpful friends can get you other stuff. For the rest, you may need to EBay or buy new parts.
Now, you won't have the latest and greatest machine on the planet just to play WoW on, but I guarantee (especially using FOSS) that you will have a good machine to do real work on.
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
The *real* reason for the slowdown in growth is that Worldcom/MCI is not fudging the growth numbers anymore. Previous growth and usage numbers were pure BS, now it is only partial BS...
Oh well, what the hell...
If I had to guess, I'd say that growth is slowing down because our infrastructure is stuck in the tarpit of failed deregulation. I just checked yesterday, and in Germany you can get a broadband connection approximately equivalent to one for which I'd have to pay $50/mo., for only €9/mo. In Sweden it seems regular people can get 100MBit connections to their homes at reasonable prices.
Maybe nobody else is jumping to get on the Internet because it's not getting any cheaper and it's not getting any better. $40-$50/mo. is a lot to pay for a lot of people. The giant media/telecom conglomerates certainly aren't making anything any better.
It would also be easy enough to take a second credit card reader, velcro it to the side of the monitor, and then swipe every credit card through that a few times. All you'd have to do is put on a frustrated face when it didn't work, and then swipe it through the real credit-card acceptor that was actually connected to the machine. I bet most people wouldn't ever even notice, I've seen lots of POS systems that have multiple scanners attached to them (e.g., one built into the keyboard, one up on the monitor).
... let them do it a few times, then when it doesn't work, offer to scan it on the one attached to the register. This has happened to me many times at the grocery store, it would never be questioned.
Heck you can make people do it themselves -- put the fake one on the counter and when people go to pay with a credit card point to it, people will swipe
People are very cavalier about swiping their credit/debit/ATM cards -- a few years I saw a TV station in a major city (I think it was NYC) put up a kiosk on the street near an ATM with a reader on it and a sign that said "Clean your credit card's magnetic strip here!" People ran their cards through without even thinking twice about it. (Heck, you could write "Credit Card Degausser" on the front and I bet some idiots would use it.)
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."