The Internet? In My Life? No Thanks!

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The Internet? In My Life? No Thanks!

A report last month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project [http://www.pewinternet.org/] finds that although price is a barrier for dial-up users in switching to broadband, one-third of those without a 'net connection simply aren't interested in e-mailing or exploring the Web.

To those poor people still on dialup who won't have seen how to turn a gasmask into a kazoo [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zFuGIj3YIKM] due to their connection speeds, cost is still a big hindrance. And in a truly head-scratching moment, 20% didn't want to upgrade.

The report's author, John Horrigan, puts it into a better perspective, as low-income and older Americans account for most of the non-users, whose median age is 61.

"In moments of technological change, whether it be electricity or television, a certain segment of the population seems to hold out and say, 'I'm just fine with my outhouse' or 'Who needs a phone line?' " says Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, which runs the Internet for Everyone initiative in Washington. "That doesn't mean that those people are misinformed or misguided. It's just the natural progression of technology adoption."

Of the 305 million residents of the States, 190 million Americans used the internet in December.

Source: USA Today [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-02-02-internet-access_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip]

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[Nimbus]

*shrugs*

Meh. They'll be dead in 30 years and then it will be OUR turn to be behind the times.

 

[KarmicToast]

*shrugs*

Meh. They'll be dead in 30 years and then it will be OUR turn to be behind the times.

3D virtual ninja mail couriers? In my life? No thanks! I'll stick to my e-mail, you damn whipper snappers.

 

[ShadowKirby]

Them kids with their virtual reality and their flying skateboard. I'll stick to my video games and my hybrid car. *goes playing FFXXV*

 

[Volucer]

You can turn a gasmask into a kazoo?....oooooo....

 

[Valiance]

I know people who are like 80 years old and they're more interested in this stuff than me.

I know people who are like 40 and will never see a point to it.

I know former dial-up users that gave me arguments like "Oh, no one calls me anyway..." and "I can just wait. I'm patient." , until something happened and he wanted to be able to get calls and go online (mother in hospital for an operation, for example) and then, once they try broadband, they have no idea how they lived without it.

Some people simply will not like the idea. Some might say that those people are standing in the way of human progress, but the majority of people will eventually convert to using the Internet, and I don't blame them because this concept couldn't have been conceived a few generations ago (when the telephone was the awesome thing.)