Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just realized that growing up computers were basically only for research and creating content. Now that bandwidth is so cheap computers are only for consumption.
They dont call us "consumers" for nothing.... soon they'll take away the keyboards and other ways/inputs to mess with the "insides" of a computer ... and all you'll have is a touch screen to choose this or that.. while consuming...actually thats happening already with iPad etc..
11% of Americans don’t use the internet
31–40 of 295 posts
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#32I wonder will the internet have matured (jumped the shark with excess commercialism, JS, ads etc) to the extent TV has that people start cord cutting the net. Anecdotally the novelty is starting to wear thin with more than a few people I know who barely use anything beyond a chat service and a little shopping (probably at Amazon).
People didn't start cutting the TV cord because of commercialism or ads or really anything about TV in particular; they cut because there was a substitute. Until there's another option as good for that chat and shopping, they'll keep their internet connection (even if only a cellular one).
there is a kind of natural selection on the internet that breed things that capture attention- sometimes i think of the internet as an intelligent agent thats just trying to exist in as many minds as prominently as possible. it will only get better at this, but i guess i wonder if it gets better easier by hijacking attention, or by being helpful. i feel like hijacking attention might be hitting a ceiling? at least i hope so.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#33Old people can use the internet just fine if they want to; my 80-year-old mother happily uses it to buy all kinds of stuff, to pay her bills, to keep up with family on Facebook, etc.
I have relatives that will never use the internet, they are just from a different era and have no interest. Nor do they have cellphones. Conversely I have other similar aged relatives that can't get enough of it on their laptops, iPads and smart phones. There definitely seems to be a split mentality for that generation.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#34I wonder will the internet have matured (jumped the shark with excess commercialism, JS, ads etc) to the extent TV has that people start cord cutting the net. Anecdotally the novelty is starting to wear thin with more than a few people I know who barely use anything beyond a chat service and a little shopping (probably at Amazon).
People didn't start cutting the TV cord because of commercialism or ads or really anything about TV in particular; they cut because there was a substitute. Until there's another option as good for that chat and shopping, they'll keep their internet connection (even if only a cellular one).
I don't think that's completely true.
There was a choice between streaming services with no ads and TV with ever longer ad breaks and cheaper programming. Dissatisfaction with TV made the choice easy. No ads was a big selling point for Netflix.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#35And these Americans are the wise ones among us.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you 70 years old? Radio was at the same stage as the internet in the 50s and 60s.
Grew up with kids TV in the 70s and 80s thanks :p I have never once heard anyone criticise radio consumption that I can remember. Walkmans in the 80s, yes; games, yes; TV, definitely as mentioned. All of those have cropped up in the news more than a few times while they were topical. Maybe UK radio got a different reaction to the US?
Back in the 60's and 70's, it was mostly criticism of radio stations that played rock music.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#37My Dad is in his early 70's and has never used the Internet. In fact, he never even had a cellphone until this year when I bought him a flip-phone and convinced him to accept it. I think he's plenty capable of learning such technology, he just doesn't see any compelling reason. And I think that's a perfectly reasonable choice -- I'm certainly not going to tell a senior citizen what they need to be happy. He is starti…
Side note: he should be able to get those forms at the post office.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#38Makes me wonder if when we are 80 years old, we'll be organizing retro LAN parties to play Unreal Tournament (1999 release) in our retirement homes.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if people or specifically children were happier in the 80s/90s, but after spending a couple of weeks with my 10-year-old niece, I'm completely floored at how she tries to fill every waking minute passively consuming content such as YouTube. It wouldn't be so bad if children were using the Internet to do something constructive or educational. Of course, plenty of people from my generation spent their chil…
I just realized that growing up computers were basically only for research and creating content. Now that bandwidth is so cheap computers are only for consumption.
"computers" as in traditional PCs are regaining their creator role. Microsoft even calls their windows update "Creator Edition". Phones and tablets are almost pure consumption devices with a few exceptions.
Re: 11% of Americans don’t use the internet
#40Certain parts of my family do not operate on the same timescale as me wrt tech. It's not just a generational divide in my families case.
To me, tech is all-emcompassing, I follow new developments as if it's second nature. To the more tech literate of my family they see the stuff that comes out as usually unnecessary in most cases but upgrade to have the new hotness every second major cycle (iphone 4->6 for example).
For the final part of my family, they operate on a different time scale altogether. For them a computer is a computer, they don't really "get old" unless they break. It's difficult to tell them (when they have been told to use the internet for some system of government) and you need to explain to them that their computer from 1995 can't use the internet in the modern day.
To them, they have a computer, a working computer, it cost a lot of money. The vacuum cleaner they had for 25 years works, the TV too, why can't they use the thing that cost significantly more than that. (my grandparents ironically have that compaq PC that says it's future-proof on the front).
For them to get back into technology it needs to be a form-factor change (IE; Desktop->Tablet) which was how they started to use the internet.
Anyway, that's my anecdotal story.