Who wouldn't like it?

T+D, July, 2003 by William Powell

Believe it or not, there are people out there--friends, neighbors, and family--who, brace yourself, don't like the Internet. Worse, they've decided to live their lives unplugged. OK, maybe it's not so shocking. Most of us, at one time or another, have thought of walking away from the World Wide Web. Email? Almost daily. But at a time when it seemed that the United States was moving, albeit slowly, toward a totally wired existence, along comes new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. According to Pew's research, 24 percent of Americans live their lives free of the Web's entanglements and more than half say they "don't want it and don't need it."

What has the Web ever done to them? Well, it seems their reasons for rejecting the Internet ate what you might expect. According to Pew, many people lack the resources, Financial and otherwise, to go online. Some don't have the social connections that pull so many first-timers on board. And others have just had it with poor connection speed. In short, they fall outside of the affluent, educated suburbanites and guys without dates, which studies have shown, dominate usage.

What surprises me is the number of people who were once loyal users and have now dropped the Internet for various reasons of dissatisfaction. "Net Dropouts," as the Pew study refers to them, are at 17 percent of the un-Internet population. That's up 4 percent from 2000. It's not a drastic increase by any means, but it does run counter to the evolution of a society in which everyone is wired to the gills (aside from the Amish, Mennonites, and a handful of practicing Luddites). Considering the number of stories I've read recently about people dropping out of wired society (proclaiming their independence with a loud Yahoo!, perhaps?), I'm led to wonder if this might be the first grumblings of an Internet backlash?

All right, so that may be a shot in the dark, but I feel confident saying that the Internet is losing the last of its counter-culture appeal. It's no longer the domain of the terminally geeky and all things pornographic; the Internet is becoming mainstream. When the Pew survey asked, "What do you think the Internet is like?" respondents overwhelmingly responded that it's like a library. Only 10 percent said "shopping mall," and a mere 2 percent said "party." I like the library, but have you been to one recently? It's no party.

In Internet time, the Web is getting up there. The Mosaic browser, which revolutionized the way we view Websites, just celebrated its 10th birthday. Users have had plenty of time to find our what the Web is about, and, like it or not, some people just don't want it in their lives. They bought the pitch, they signed up for the extended in-home trial, and now they're sending it back.

The Internet will never be all things to all people, at least not in our lifetime, nor should it be. It should continue to challenge, provoke, and even annoy us. That's what makes it fun. But as it evolves, I hope it does those things in a more refined and purposeful way. Much like--I guess they were right--a library.

I suspect that for many of those Net Dropouts, turning their backs on the Web is just a healthy case of rebellion. I'm reminded of The Wild Ones when Johnny (Marion Brando) is asked what he's rebelling against. He replies, "Whaddya got?" 'With the Internet, thankfully, the answer will always be, "Where do I start?"