Using the Internet

I interviewed people from all three generations but it is by no means a very reliable indicator for each generation. Just as we learned in Postman this week, there are many things that influence the answers we got. I suspect I would have to ask a much larger population of each age group to get a more accurate and representative picture. The reason I say this is because from middle age up the internet kind of meets a fork in the road. Those that have continued or began in the workforce will tend to use the internet more than their counterparts. Those who have never had motivation will probably not be so willing to be bothered. Younger folks who have grown up not knowing life without the internet don't really have anything else to fall back on.

The youngest person I interviewed was "Brett", middle age "Rick" and eldest "Deanna". Commonalities among all groups was e-mail. That seems to be the across the board most common use but so is research or information gathering of some sort. In Wood & Smith the point is made that home and offices are now merged (p. 147). We can see this phenomena in the fact that we conduct research, not at the library, but from our own homes. I'm a prime example since I'm right now doing my homework on my bed and plan to access the OSU library online to research material for another class. "Brett" says that he does his shopping online and uses it for entertainment purposes. Convergence of media taking place right in our own homes. We are virtually able to do just about anything anywhere and we've gotten to the place that we want or maybe even demand to have our wi-fi wherever we might be, imagine checking into a hotel without wi-fi these days or sitting in the airport with no way to connect?

Another commonality across the age groups is that the people I talked with agreed that they were pretty comfortable communicating on the internet. "Brett" was the only one in my groups that actively maintained a social networking site online. That is where I think the younger age group departs. Myspace, Facebook, and the other sites seem to be inhabited, in a larger portion, by the younger crowd. Somehow I can't imagine my grandmother with a Myspace account.

All ages agree that the technology has both good and bad implications. They all agreed that technology has brought us into a more fast-paced society and for the older crowd there is a resistance to that aspect while for the younger crowd it's okay. As I said before, the younger aged have nothing to compare it to. In general the attitude is that the internet is here to stay and the general consensus is that it's good to be able to keep in touch.

After reading Wood and Smith the point that really stood out to me was the example of how technolgy could save time by creating a feeding machine so people could continue working and not have to take time out to each (p. 147). I had to laugh because it's so true and crazy when you read it in print. Isn't it the same thing when we can't unplug from our cell phones or internet long enough to eat, shop, engage in an uninterupted face to face conversation? The idea of convergence used in the book is when communication, information and computer industries merge but this same thing happens in our life. I'm not trying to necessarily put a value judgement but rather step back, unplug and evaluate the overall picture.

There is always a tension between new technology and how things used to be and interviewing three different generations brings to light some of these issues. How do we go forward? What does it mean for society? Is technology what drives us forward or do we need to look at more intrinsic values?