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The web lifestyle
If you asked people today why they use the telephone to communicate
with their friends or why they turn to television for entertainment,
they would look at you as if you were crazy. We don't think
about a telephone or a television or a car as being strange
things. These things have become such an integral part of life
that they are no longer noticed, let alone remarked upon.
In the same way, within a decade no
one will notice the Web. It will just be there, an integral
part of life. It will be a reflex to turn to the Web for shopping,
education, entertainment and communication, just as it is
natural today to pick up the telephone to talk to someone.
There is incredible interest in the
Web. Yet it is still in its infancy. The technology and the
speed of response are about to leap forward. This will move
more and more people to the Web as part of their everyday
lives. Eventually, everyone's business card will have an electronic
mail address. Every lawyer, every doctor and every business
-- from large to small -- will be connected.
In the United States elections, people
now turn to the Internet to see real-time results. The Pathfinder
mission to Mars and the problems with the Mir space station
drew millions of people to the Web for up-to-date details.
A change like this is often generational.
Whereas older people have to learn something new outside their
everyday experiences, kids who grow up with a new technology
simply treat it as given. College students are contributing
a lot to the Web culture.
Today in the United States, there are
over 22 million adults using the Web, about half of whom access
the Internet at least once a day. Meanwhile, the variety of
activities on the Web is broadening at an amazing rate. You
can find many interesting materials on the Web. Many of these
sites are getting excellent traffic flow. Want to buy a dog?
Or sell a share? Or order a car? Turn to the Internet. Where
are we going to get the time to live with the Web? In some
instances, people will actually save time because the Web
will make doing things more efficient than was the case in
the past. Being able to get information about a major purchase,
for example, or finding out how much your used car is worth,
or what is your cheapest way of getting to Florida. That information
is very easy to find on the Web, even today. In other instances,
people will trade the time they now spend reading the paper,
or watching television, for information or entertainment they
find on the computer screen. Americans, particularly young
ones, will spend less time in front of a television screen
and more time on the Web.
We usually overestimate what we can
do in two years and underestimate what we can do in ten. The
Web will be as much a way of life as the car is by 2008. Probably
before.
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