Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Is there or isn't there a "Digital Divide"?

Author:William Crim
Posted:4/17/2000; 7:37:11 PM
Topic:Is there or isn't there a "Digital Divide"?
Msg #:16352 (In response to 16334)
Prev/Next:16351 / 16353

I think people mistake potential for usefullness. :-) The Internet helps me do things I normally wouldn't do, but rarely helps me do things I already do.

Billpay is nice, but not useful if you habitually ride the razor edge of bank balances. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is an artful action that requires careful balance and a keen ear to know which creditor is yelling the loudest. Computers will never be able to automate this time honored activity of the heavily indebted average American Family.

Collecting information on-line like Tax info, etc, is nice, but not necessary. The Post Office and the Library have 95% of the informational needs that I normally look up on the Internet. I just don't have the same instant gratification.

Buying things on-line is not really useful, since it all amounts of catalog shopping, which people have done for years. For ordering small things, the shipping costs far outweigh the ease of purchase.

For the average American family, the Internet is a TV alternative, with enhanced Instant-Gratification(tm) facilities for activities they were going to do anyway. If I wasn't in a technology field, the Internet would offer me nothing but a little novelty and entertainment.

If given a computer, the poor would still be poor. If given a computer, an old person would still find it easier to do something the way they have for 40 years, than to relearn it. Since most libraries have access to the Internet, this is all really a moot point anyway. Most people are blissfully unaware of the passage of Internet Time, and can lead happy productive lives.

P.S. Internet Time is a pseudo-temporal telescoping of perception caused by the need to keep up to date with what is new, rather than what is useful.

1 Year ago: There were two major browsers, e-mail was in wide use, Usenet news was a flamefest of spam. IRC is popular and IM is becomming popular. MP3s are being discovered by the "Industry". Apple was going to die anyday now. UNIX is declared reborn by most, still declared dead by Microsoft.

2 Years ago: There were two major browsers, e-mail was in wide use, Usenet news was a flamefest of spam. IRC is popular and IM is being discovered by the "Industry". Apple was going to die anyday now. UNIX is declared dead by Microsoft.

5 Years ago: There were two major browsers, e-mail was in wide use, Usenet news was a flamefest of spam. IRC is popular. Apple was going to die anyday now. UNIX is declared dead.

7 Years ago: There are few browsers browsers, e-mail was in wide use, Usenet news was a flamefest of spam. IRC is popular. Apple was going to die anyday now. UNIX is declared dead.

90% of the momentous technological movements of the last 10 years when unnoticed by the public at large because they were really quite stupid or of dubious value to begin with.

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