I Love the Internet! (Part #237)
Happened upon this article discussing Jakob Nielsen’s opinion of the latest crop of user interfaces on the web:
“Although people in their late 30s make very different use of the web to those in their teens, Mr Nielsen expects that when those teenagers grow up the time they spend online will diminish.”
I was just talking to my wife last night about how we’re able to accomplish so much more in our lives thanks to the web (she’s taking language classes online, I did a bunch of shopping for an upcoming trip). And we don’t feel too deprived since we talk to each other all day on e-mail and IM. Not everyone is like us certainly, but we find that the web is only a boon to our existence. Not some sort of de-socializing, isolating, scary technology.
I think that kids today (on average) will only use the web more as they get older. The web will only become more pervasive as it finds its way onto every device and surface in our lives. On this point, I think Jakob Nielsen is off-base.
Join the discussion 2 Comments
Bryan Zug
May 15, 2007 at 12:04 pm
When my two year old sun sees a laptop displaying a face, he walks up to it and begins an energetic chorus of “HI! HI! HI! HI!” — for him our video chats via sightspeed have already embedded the “laptop as relational device” into his mental DNA — which often leaves me wondering where this will all lead for him.
Joe Fletcher
May 15, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Long time reader, first time commenter :)
Totally agree, Nielsen is off on this. Especially considering as businesses demand more global presences and work across countries, employees of those businesses will need to utilize the web more and more. Not to mention the points you bring up about shopping and IM… and you can’t forget Netflix! Now watch your movies as they stream!