31 Millions US homes have no Internet

I always taught all Americans were connected.

http://newsroom.parksassociates.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3510&

 

Irreguardless that we're indeed well within the information age as our country so well alludes to from billboards to TV commercials they completely miss the reality which they refuse to accept.

Not everyone is so interested or even curious about having internet access and especially the elder generation. I get incensed when so many TV spots announce that if you want more information about either a business or to learn more in what their advertising about, go to to the web at www dot whatever for more information.

They NEVER and i mean NEVER ever offer the simple alternative of providing a telephone number to call to find out more and i think that just sux on their part. Not everyone is able to do that and they should be responsible and understand this.

It's never going to happen on the scale they expect no matter how much is spent on TV to draw attention to it and disturbs me that they just assume every household should be equipped with such communication.

 

Not that surprised at the large number of non-web people. Not everyone has access to a PC (some are too poor and isolated, some are too old to start learning to use one, some just have no interest, etc.). I do tend to agree that a lot of companies are relying on people to access their website in order to get information or transact business with them. A prime example is online banking. Before the 1990's, you could only do business with a bank by either mail or going to a branch office. Now I hardly ever go to a branch office and I use the mail service even less. Most of my accounts are with banks located across the country. However, I am sure that there are many people who still only have accounts at the local bank (and earning less interest as a result).

I sort of look at internet access like cable and satellite service. It is a nice thing to have, but it costs money (unless you want to go to an internet cafe or the public library everytime). Unless you can make it available to everyone for free and easily accessible, there will always be someone who doesn't go online.

 

I have both in one computer :
1. one off-line snapshot, where I can forget all the troubles of internet and work quietly, an oasis of rest and peace.
No malware, no anti-malware, no disturbances, nothing but silence and a faster computer.
2. one on-line snapshot to "enjoy" internet.

 

I suspect the majority of those have no puter at all.
Sometimes (just occassionally) I wonder if maybe THEY have the right idea.
Life WAS a lot simpler before.
Admittedly, I could not go back, but...
BSODs, conflicting DLL error messages, connectivity issues, f^**#! printer won't work, never ending downloads of M$ service packs to keep track of, etc., ad nauseam.
Not to mention the myriad security issues. Phishing, identity theft. Enough to scare anyone.
There are actually people out there that have not whipped themselves into an hysterical frenzy over NOD32's Security Suite 3.0!!
Can you imagine?!!
Such people must be very backwards.

 

Hi, Bob D

Whats NOD32. [jest]

And Life was also Shorter before computers.

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Hey, you don't expect these poor, impoverished companies (having just spent a small fortune on TV advertising) to splash out on real human beings to answer those phones do you?

What amazes me more are companies that fork out for a pricey domain name and spend a fortune on advertising it, only to produce a website that is an utter pile of garbage.

 

I remember when I got excited about connecting up to the internet for the first time, the excitement was short lived and the frustration kicked in when myself and a couple of internet savvy friends couldn't find any IP's in the phone book, a friend had to go home to his place and go on line to get a phone number .... that should have been a warning to me then.
All praise to the 31 million.

 

I think we have a lot of different scenarios here. First off the elder generation is more connected than you think. Not only are there classes just for senior citizens to learn, but more of the retired folks have the money to shell out for a set up. A lot of them spend a substantial amount of time e-mailing jokes and cruising the internet, rather than doing actual work on their computers but we're out there. Got that Johnny?
School kids in elementary school are using laptops in class, and can show you stuff about computers. I know men whose wife is the one who uses the computer, and they can't even access Outlook Express, and they don't care if they ever learn computers.
As for the 31 million who don't have a computer, I think that they just can't lay out that kind of money at one time, and they can't afford to buy it on time. When a mortgage payment is $700 and the cost of raising kids and keeping a car running gives you just enough to make it to next week, you don't have money to buy a computer to surf the web. There's always the computers you can use at the local library. I think when the price comes down to about $200 for an entry level computer, you'll see the other half getting into it.

 

Actually, come to think of it, this is good. No internet access means they don't have to worry about getting hacked. Almost.

 

It is automatically assumed by the advertisers that every person has and knows how to use computers to access the internet. That's the global trend among advertisers today.
Technical details? No.
Interactive graphics? Yes.
Third-party advertisers? Yes.
Tracking cookies? Yes.
Spyware and adware? Maybe YES.
Banner-ads? Yes.
Generate revenue? YES.

In Singapore, if you watch the news bulletins from Channel Newsasia, there is a office with the news people working on Windows XP Professional computers in the background just behind the news presenter's seat. And you can see what they are doing on those computers. LOL.