For starters, this assigment was great. I wasn’t expecting it to be, I was too busy thinking about how I would fit three interviews into my already jam-packed schedule and complaining about 22 credits. But when I took the time to listen, I found myself intrigued. And provided with a new perspective of how our lives function around the internet. Or don’t.
This was my original perspective: The younger you are, the more fixated your life is on the internet. The older you get, the less you utilize it.
These are the summaries of my interviews:
For ages 18-35, I interviewed my friend’s little brother, Evan. He is nineteen, and rarely uses the internet. Evan says he uses the Internet for Myspace and to watch videos on Youtube. As he is a freshman in college, I assumed that he would use the internet for research, classes, e-mailing, etc. When I referenced research, I was surprised by his response, “Um, I like to just go to the library and look up books, the internet just complicates things”. Evan has always been a 4.0 student, and likely always will be- so I was aghast that he literally rarely uses the internet for class research. I have yet to get my head around how that is even possible… Seeing as Evan uses the internet primarily for Myspace, one would assume he is comfortable communicating online. However, when I asked him about e-mail, he squirmed and said that he didn’t like it much. He said he prefers to go in to speak to his professors, likes to “just call” his mom (and sister, of course) on the phone, and Myspace is a more laid-back (and I’m assuming, comfortable) place to keep in contact with his friends. It seems as though Evan’s life is virtually unaffected by the internet- he goes about his research in the same manner he would without the internet (except possibly, the use of online library catalogs), and if he weren’t watching videos on Youtube he would find them on TV (MXC and comedy central come to mind). Evan thinks the internet is fine, although he “doesn’t get why so many people are obsessed with it, and always attached to it, even on their phones”. He sees how it can be used for resources, and how it can provide a source for communication, and thinks it to be a valuable part of the progress of our society technologically. But Evan points out (in something of a mimic of Postman) that there is the possibility, and ideally, the fear, that technology and the internet will take over the way we think, the way we interact and the way we ACT. Wise, for the age of nineteen…
Ages 36-60: Adele, age 55 (my mother). My mom uses the internet daily- primarily for the purpose of work-related e-mailing. She is a teacher and principal and says that without the internet she would not be able to keep up and on top of, everything she has to deal with day to day. On the flip side, she says that if she didn’t have internet, perhaps she wouldn’t have as much stress because she wouldn’t be aware of all the people/things in need of attention. 
Mom feels that the internet has greatly affected the way in which she lives her life, internet never having been a part of it previously. These are the positives she listed:
1. She keeps in better contact with me and my sister.
2. She and longtime friends have become even closer because in the absence of seeing one another, they send each other e-cards, videos, etc.
3. Competitive analysis and educational inspiration sources are more accessible.
These are the negatives:
1. People are constantly e-mailing, and expect immediate replies. (Wrongly assuming I wait around for their communication)
2. Misinformation is too accessible for students/children/people these days.
3. Distrust of communicating with people she does not know first-hand.
4. The fear of putting her credit card number online to order something because of….fear?
In general, she thinks the internet is useful, and can provide a wonderful array of information. But she worries about the misuse of the internet, worries about online stalkers/predators, worries that our society is becoming too disconnected on a facial level, and thinks students spend too much time online and ruining our eyes. (AGREED-hehe).
Finally, ages 61+: I interviewed a client of my sister’s (she is an interior designer) while I happened to be in her office waiting to car-pull home. Claudia is 78, and single-handedly the coolest lady I have ever known. I should not have been surprised to learn what I did. When I asked Claudia what she uses the internet for she responded, “OH, where do I START..?”
“Well, to check my e-mail, of course, and to upload pictures to my blog or our [her and her husband Lawrence] website….I always check the weather first thing in the morning- online is so much more RELIABLE than those silly tv men..I do most my shopping online- isn’t it just amazing all the stores you can go to on the internet!? Well I know they aren’t really stores, but I just feel like I’m in a mall…Oh! and looking up recipes [she apparently learned to cook...online...] there are some of the most DELICIOUS recipes online. We hardly eat out anymore!…and, did I mention e-mailing? Yes? I e-mail alot. ..Here her purse starts singing “You’re So Vain..” and she pulls out her wait a sec..iphone? Note to self: a 78 year old lady has a WAY cooler phone than me…and giddily informs me that her husband is IMing her from his laptop at home..and then laughs because he also included a link to a StupidVideo clip of an old woman being yanked off her feet by her huge dog pulling his leash. All I can do here is laugh.
Her list of uses of the internet go on to include just about EVERY aspect the internet even offers (save porn, thank goodness!) and I am left completely baffled.
My new perspective: We are a society completely, comfortably adjusted to the internet. It makes no harsh, negative change on our lives and does not rank as the most negative effect of technology in any way. Despite being easy to assume, the general gap in understanding/appreciating technology is not the standard. I can still appreciate the feeling that the internet sometimes overwhelm our lives- mostly because I feel my life is consumed by the internet- but I can also see that the internet also provides a definite, and sometimes refreshing, way of communicating with one another, and for exploring the world outside of what lies out our door.
If only I myself was so adapted as Claudia….
Could meeting the chalenges of using the internet and other technologies being helping to keep all the generations feeling young? I believe that after talking with my mother in-law who is in her 80′s and living alone, the internet provides a place to explore and plan vacations, she may not be comfortable booking a trip on the internet but she sure can research a vacation and them book it with a travel agent. She is also very comfortable checking her finances on line, more comfortable than her daughter (my wife)