The Internet lifestyle

The Internet lifestyle

The Internet is undeniably useful. Yet some people do legitimately worry if easy online access to just about everything might turn us into a society of bug-eyed, mouse-fingered electronic denizens. (Indeed, those same fears were voiced when the original telecommunications revolution, the telephone, began to stretch its copper tendrils into homes and offices.) 

But that wasn't the case then, nor is it now, according to `The UCLA Internet Report: Surveying the Digital Future' and the October 26 PCWorld.com. The report did find that over two-thirds of the people in the US now have access to the Internet, and forty-two percent of people in the US `do e-mail' daily--in fact, nine percent do it hourly! Which leads to a fascinating set of numbers: the US Postal Service delivers about 100 billion pieces of mail annually, but this study pegs the number of e-mail messages at four trillion! (No wonder the Postal Service is trying to get a foot in the e-mail services door.)

It also found that about half of Internet users have already purchased something online, and the biggest obstacle to their doing more of their shopping online is the hassle of returning merchandise. Ninety-one percent are also `somewhat or very concerned about credit card security.' And two-thirds of those surveyed indicated that online purchases have `at least somewhat reduced their purchases from retail stores.' (American Express recently conducted another survey of how people and the Web interact; 

But did they also find a `personal interaction downside,' from all this time spent online? Does it detract from more direct, interpersonal relationships? The answer seems to be 'no,' since this study found that ninety-two percent of those surveyed said they continue to spend as much time with their family as they did pre-Internet, although their TV watching time has decreased.

Indeed, they see the Internet as `a catalyst for creating and maintaining friendships.'

When it comes to parents monitoring their kids' use of the Internet, the study highlighted an interesting difference of opinion. Sixty-six percent of parents said their kids have to ask permission to go online. But only thirty-seven percent of kids said they have to get that permission. Hummm. But that brings us to an interesting `Knowledge Age' issue:

"With television, the other medium also often monitored by parents, adults know how to hit the power button on the remote control... some parents may have to seek help from their children to turn off the Internet." 

"Sure Mom, the computer's off--see the blank screen?"

(By the way, for an extensive look at possible futures for `things Internet' including entertainment, wireless access, broadband access, and a great deal more, check out Fortune Magazine's 'The Future of the Internet;' 

There's a lot more detail in both of these reports, but the end result seems pretty clear: the Internet is changing our world, and those choosing not to play, will be left out. 

Jeffrey Harrow


Senior Consulting Engineer


(Technology and Corporate Development Group), Compaq

Note: This is an article from the `Rapidly Changing Face of Computing', a free weekly multimedia technology journal written by Jeffrey Harrow. More discussions around the innovations and trends of contemporary computing and the technologies that drive them are available at

www.compaq.com/rcfoc. The writer's opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Compaq. The RCFoC is copyright 2000, Compaq.