POLL: Is The Internet A Fad?

7/27/02 | Sams Bees

[SamBees]

Thats the question! Is the Internet a passing fad, or something that has yet to gain its full potential?

I speak to people everyday who are mainstream and they say that they have ZERO interest in the Net.

I don't agree with them, but thats not the point. The thing that I am seeing is that people are tired of the Internet, and they are ignoring it. It blew up a huge bubble early on, but as with most things that are highly inflated, it has had too much exposure, and people have grown tired of it. , or so it seems.

Of course, government and industry would like to force the net on Americans, and for many reasons which I won't go into at this time, so there are forces that are trying to make the Net just another aspect of life, but that effort seems to have failed. People seem to be losing interest in the Internet.

Why is this happening. As I mentioned, the Net came on like any other fad, and that turns off a lot of people. But, aside from that, there are two absolutely huge problems with the Net:

1. Content

2. Access speed.

3. Price of access.

Content is very lacking on the net. Yes, there are many reference materials here, and if you're doing homework, this is the place to hang, but real, serious content that has broad appeal is not here. And, what is here is dying by the day.

Access speed is horrible! Most people are using 56k dial-up accounts. How can you rapidly access great content, even if it were here, using a 56k modem? What junk! So, even if great content were here, it would take you forever at pull it down to your machine, and many people do not want to sit and wait for your page to load!

But, if you're willing to PAY big bucks, you can get high speed access from your cable provider, or DSl from your phone company, and there are a few wireless alternatives out there, but be ready to pay through the nose for mere Net access.

All of these are contributing to the demise of the Net, or to it becoming little more than a passing fad left to nerds, school kids, and government spooks.

Where do you stand on the issue?

[weikel]

Not for me but I am a nerd.

[SamBees]

Me too, but the people I've spoken with about this issue are not. They are mainstream society, and if they are ignoring the net, they in reality, it appears to have been nothing more than a huge dot.bomb.

[ChadsDad]

I am in the car business, and the net serves as just another way to advertise. I get fewer and fewer actual buyers from my investment in net-tech. www.villagemotors.com

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The internal combustion engine is just a fad.

[TomGuy]

Before becoming public, the net existed as a data and information vehicle.

It went public and big business thought they could invade it and make fortunes, taking over through advertising, etc. That didn't work very well. Partly due to excessive eagerness to jump in, ignorance about the "make up" of the net, and too many other competitors doing the same thing--jumping in.

It took several years for the net to weed out the money-grubbers. Now, the net is returning more to its original design--data and information. People seeking data and information will always be net users. As with public libraries, they exist but not everyone uses them. As with public play grounds/parks, they exist but not everyone uses them. That doesn't mean they are any less important or are "dying" out.

[rond]

That there newfangled radio with pictures will never last.

[steve50]

I think bandwidth is the key. They have to solve the "last mile" problem in a cost effective manner before it can progress much more. When streaming video becomes available to the masses the potential is scary. So scary that might be what is holding it back.

[Focault's Pendulum]

But, aside from that, there are two absolutely huge problems with the Net: 1. Content 2. Access speed. 3. Price of access.

Ah! The mathematically challenged.

[another cricket]

The older mainstream society will not pay much attention to the net for one of two reasons:

A.) It requires an effort unlike say TV or radio you can not simply be passive with the net but you must be active at least to some extent.

B.) They are afraid of it. They hear so many horror stories about virus's and hackers that they regard the net the same way that they would the red light district.

Where the future will come is from people who are now in their teens and early twenties. They grew up with it and find being interactive enjoyable rather then frightening.

The older ones will come when you find something that grabs their interests that they can not easily find elsewhere.

Up until two years ago I used the Internet very little. Mostly for e-mail and I would turn my computer on maybe once a week. But one day someone recommended that I read a certain article that could only be found on-line. To my astonishment I found a whole bunch of people who thought the way I did. Then I found FR. The warnings of addiction need to be more forceful. :^)

a.cricket

[freebilly]

dit dit dit...dot dot dot...dit dot dit....

[Dust in the Wind]

The net is a useful tool to communicate with far-flung family. But it is becoming a VERY obnoxious occurrence that nearly every time I download e-mail and find 80 to 100% of it is unsolicited advertisements. Hundreds per week!

[TomGuy]

But, aside from that, there are two absolutely huge problems with the Net: 1. Content 2. Access speed. 3. Price of access.

Ah! The mathematically challenged.

That why I always use both hands and feet. 'cept that missin' toe always thows my cipherin' off.

[WFTR]

Content is very lacking on the net. Yes, there are many reference materials here, and if you're doing homework, this is the place to hang, but real, serious content that has broad appeal is not here.

First, there's no place in America where anything of "real, serious content" has much appeal. We are a society that watches Oprah and Friends and thinks that Dan Rather is telling the truth. These are not good signs.

Many among us who are wise enough not to be watching this kind of garbage are the types who want to be doing something more action-based during their spare time. Many sit at a desk all day at work and don't want to do it at home. This is a good sign for society but not for the net.

Beyond these comments, I think the net is going to grow, but it simply won't grow at the breakneck speed that it did in the 90's. E-mail has become a great way for many people to communicate, and e-mail will continue to be popular. Most of the web will continue to serve niche interests, and those interests will grow slowly but steadily. The "fad" aspect will die, but the net will grow behind it.

WFTR
Bill

[TomGuy]

The net is a useful tool to communicate with far-flung family. But it is becoming a VERY obnoxious occurrence that nearly every time I download e-mail and find 80 to 100% of it is unsolicited advertisements. Hundreds per week!

Most email programs (if you aren't hotmail or yahoo mail) can be configured to bounce a lot of the unwanted stuff. Even web-based mail can be read through some email programs. I use a program called mail washer to pre-screen all my mail for both viruses and unwanted junk. It also can be configured to bounce a lot of junk.

[Dust in the Wind]

I have been putting most of them on my "blocked senders list" which helps but these outfits seem to be using some kind of randomly changing daily addresses. Does the one you are talking about block sites not just usernames as MS does?

I have to leave for a while so won't reply quickly.

[TomGuy]

I have been putting most of them on my "blocked senders list" which helps but these outfits seem to be using some kind of randomly changing daily addresses. Does the one you are talking about block sites not just usernames as MS does?

I have to leave for a while so won't reply quickly.

I visited Miss Cleo's website last year for a free reading. I had to sign up to get the free reading. It, of course, turned out to be one of those nothings until you pay for it. But they had my email address. I was bombarded with half a dozen daily mailings. I'd block the address, and they'd change it slightly. The culprit ad agency was "emsi" or some such. I finally found that Mail Washer allowed the * wildcard, so I finally managed to block anything coming from *@*emsi*. Try mailwasher. FYI

[adversarial]

Content is very lacking on the net. Yes, there are many reference materials here, and if you're doing homework, this is the place to hang, but real, serious content that has broad appeal is not here. And, what is here is dying by the day.

I disagree with this part.
How can you say the net is only good for homework and research...and post that opinion on Free Republic? What are you doing here? Homework? research?

[Willie Green]

The Internet serves an important fundamental purpose that is more enduring than a "fad".
However, it was also over-hyped to "fad" proportions, resulting in the bursting of the dotbomb bubble.
It has now changed status to a "mature" technology.
The gold rush days of "The Information Age" and "The New Economy" are over.
As with any technology, we can still expect continuous improvement in the future.
But we've reached the point of diminishing returns on investment,
the market is strictly slow growth/replacement.

[Joe Bonforte]

The Internet is embedded into American commerce, and is far more than a passing fad. It just has to go through evolution, as all techologies do.

Up to now the main use of the Internet has been furnishing web pages to users. The next phase is now in the early stages, in which computers use the Internet to talk to each other, with no user necessarily being involved.

The broadband issue will eventually sort itself out. The virtual monopoly of local phone companies is slowing that process down, but not stopping it. We'll eventually have cheap, ubiquitous broadband connections, though it may take five to ten years.

The content issue is key, in particular finding the content that one wants. The ability of computers to talk to each other is the key to resolving this issue. Today, you have to manually do your searches for what you want. In the future, this will evolve as intelligent agents on your computer do that searching for you and present you with the results. We're seeing the beginnings of that with Google, which consistenly surprises me with the job it does of finding what I want.

The Internet has only been important to business and consumers since roughly 1995 - only seven years. Give it another seven, and you won't even recognize it.