A large number of users learned about the Internet through AOL. They accessed it under the assumption that it would be a safe, well-structured place that makes sense and caters to their every need. When they discover that it's actually an anarchic jumble of information and disinformation, they are disheartened. When they learn how easy it is to steal another's identity -- perhaps even have theirs stolen -- the doom prophecies begin.
But then there are people like my grandmother.
When I lived with her in the mid 90s, she had an IBM AT -- no mouse, command-prompt driven. Shortly after I moved out, she got a new Dell. After she moved to NC several years ago, she signed up with AOL. A couple years ago, she got fed up with AOL not being all it's cracked up to be and found herself a different provider. Her impetus for learning to use that Dell was a card game, Ada Towers, that I found and installed for her in a quick web-search. She has gone from computer-phobe to computer-phile, and understands the bloody things better than a lot of the people around me at work. (She understands that when you tell a computer to do something, it does exactly what you tell it to. The number of people who don't grok this is stunning.)
Basically what I'm trying to say is that the people who are prophecizing the end of the Internet are full of hogwash and hot air. The Web, at least, goes through phases; we are currently in a relatively educated phase, and I think we've got all the "blithering idiot" stages behind us.
The 'Net and Web are still just baby-steps past their infancy, and are only just beginning to realize that they have true potential. IMO, the globalization of computers will continue until they're a lot more solidly integrated into our lives; in the US, it's weird if you don't have running water. Eventually, it'll be weird if you don't have a 'net connection in the house.
From my perspective...
But then there are people like my grandmother.
When I lived with her in the mid 90s, she had an IBM AT -- no mouse, command-prompt driven. Shortly after I moved out, she got a new Dell. After she moved to NC several years ago, she signed up with AOL. A couple years ago, she got fed up with AOL not being all it's cracked up to be and found herself a different provider. Her impetus for learning to use that Dell was a card game, Ada Towers, that I found and installed for her in a quick web-search. She has gone from computer-phobe to computer-phile, and understands the bloody things better than a lot of the people around me at work. (She understands that when you tell a computer to do something, it does exactly what you tell it to. The number of people who don't grok this is stunning.)
Basically what I'm trying to say is that the people who are prophecizing the end of the Internet are full of hogwash and hot air. The Web, at least, goes through phases; we are currently in a relatively educated phase, and I think we've got all the "blithering idiot" stages behind us.
The 'Net and Web are still just baby-steps past their infancy, and are only just beginning to realize that they have true potential. IMO, the globalization of computers will continue until they're a lot more solidly integrated into our lives; in the US, it's weird if you don't have running water. Eventually, it'll be weird if you don't have a 'net connection in the house.