1. In a threaded discussion with your Learning Group , discuss the effect of the Internet on society today. Use all of the following sources:

• the reading net demographic
• your own personal experience;
• other information in this unit; and
• other research of your own.

• Net Demographics
• Student Reading

• The Internet today is at about the same level of development as the automobile was in 1920.
• According to Jeffrey Cole, Director of the Center for Communication Policy at UCLA, studies of Internet use predict an increasingly profound impact on the social, economic, and political life of North Americans, as well as the rest of the world.
• Online technology will continue to change how we communicate, buy goods, and search for information. The Internet is creating a major transition in the waging and financing of political campaigns, in the commission and investigation of crime, and in the education of children. Less clear, but much more important, is technology's longer-range impact on creativity, national and individual freedoms and self-concepts, and the quality of personal relationships. The greatest changes will be the subtle and unexpected shifts that we can understand only through longitudinal, scientific research. That is why it is so important for researchers to begin work on the Internet now.
• The Internet Replaces Television: The Internet has already replaced television in impact on how people work, learn, and play. Until now, television has been the only other mass medium that influenced every element of social and political life. At its peak, television was the primary source of both news and entertainment. It shaped viewers' ideas of the world, attitudes about sex and violence, career aspirations, language, hair and clothing styles, and much more. Today, many of television's key functions and much of its audience are moving to other media, especially the Internet. This trend is increasing.
• According to Nielsen ratings, during one week in March 2004 for ages 18-49, "American Idol" had an 11.6 rating, "The Apprentice" a 9.5, and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" a 9.3. On the other hand, AOL had a 12.8 rating, Yahoo!s home page 10.9, and MSN's was 8.7. In the adult 18-49 segment, the Internet represents 14 % of all media time without e-mail, and 16 % including e-mail. Print magazines take up 2% and newspapers 4%.

• Over the last four years, researchers at the Center for Communication Policy at the UCLA collected data on how people in more than 20 countries use the Internet, and its effects on their online and offline lives. Here are the results of this study:
• Internet use is increasing: Over 70% of North Americans use the Internet at least once a month, and the average user is online 12 hours a week.
• The so-called digital divide is closing: The fastest growing populations of users are Latinos and African-Americans. Only 4 % more men than women use the Internet, one of the smallest gender differences among the countries studied.
• The Internet is now the most important source of information: Almost all users report that the Net is the first place they go for information, whether to settle a bet, contemplate a purchase, or answer a complex question. The "always on" function of broadband has made the Internet easier to use than a telephone or reference book. However, the Internet still trails television as a source of entertainment.
• Users watch less television than nonusers do: Since the 1960s, Americans have spent the bulk of their time in front of the television, when they are awake and at home. Subjects who use the Internet report spending less time with newspapers and magazines, too -- about 45 to 60 minutes a week less than nonusers do, though some report spending more time with online newspapers, however. So far, both spend about the same amount of time with books.
• Internet users have healthy social lives. In the 1990s, some scholars feared that use of the Internet threatened people's ability to interact face to face. That does not seem to be the case. Internet users get about an hour a week less sleep than nonusers, but they engage in about 30 minutes more of physical activity -- perhaps because they are a few years younger. Users also spend more time in person with friends than do nonusers spend and report slightly lower levels of depression, alienation, and loneliness.
• The Internet increases productivity. Most users report that the technology has made them more productive at work. However, they report taking on more tasks and finding the line between work and home increasingly blurry. Many users say they work more and harder than ever before, including late at night or on holidays when they are home. While e-mail is he single biggest reason people go online in the first place, it is becoming an enormous burden to many people as their in boxes fill up with communications demanding answers.
• E-commerce is becoming more common. Online purchasers like the wide array of goods and services available, and the ability to shop 24 hours a day. They also use the Internet to research a company web site before they go to the store. Users' reluctance to pay for digital content may also be beginning to ebb. However, all groups report concern about online security and privacy.

• Future Predictions

• The Internet will have important effects on political campaigns, dating, child rearing, crime, and dozens of other areas. The UCLA study felt safe in making the following predictions for the future:
• More North Americans will go online. In 10 years, 80 to 85% of North Americans will have access to the Internet, matching Swedes, Finns, and South Koreans. The rest of the industrialized world -Japan, Britain, and Germany, for example -will probably be under 75%. Wireless connections will become standard. By 2014, the notion of an Internet connection anchored in one spot will seem archaic. Users will expect the Internet to be in all areas of the home (including garage and backyard), at work, school, and in the car.
• Education will use the Internet. Until now, online learning has been limited to the periphery of education, in Web sites for courses and small amounts of distance learning. Over the next 10 years, as children who grew up with the Internet become teachers and administrators, they will apply the Internet to the foundations of learning.
• Entertainment will not dominate the Internet. Television, with its communal viewing and network programming that reaches all demographic groups in the nation, will always be a better medium than the Internet for entertainment. The real future of the Internet is in information.
• It will become hard to do some tasks offline. In 2014, most people will use the Internet to send letters, file tax returns, pay bills, make reservations, etc... People who do not want to perform those chores online will find it increasingly difficult and expensive to avoid doing so.