IP: Re: WORLD WIDE WASTING OF TIME

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 23:00:29 -0700
To: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
From: "Suzanne M. Johnson" <johnson () rahul net>




I had read the Gibson article before I saw this note, and had gotten a
completely different message than the Edupage folks...  
  
What I got from the article was highly complementary to the Web.  The
author,a Web user but a self-declared non user of e-mail (unanswered mail,
e- or otherwise is a source of discomfort to him), recounts the advent of TV
in the early 50's..and how that changed peoples view of leisure activities.
He likens watching television now to a form of work, with "wooden" media to
entertain, sell an advertiser's product and maybe to inform.  The Web on the
other hand, is new and rapidly evolving...so our reaction/response to it has
not hardened into stereotype.


In the early years of TV, there were test patterns which in themselves
brought neighbors over to view.  The Web in its current form, he says, is
similar to the test patterns of old.  ("A test pattern for whatever will
become the dominant global medium.." )


Basically in today's over-busy world, with fewer and fewer meaningful ways
in which to spend leisure time, the Web is an oasis that was promised by
futurists many years ago....and for those chronically caught up in business,
the Web is an ideal way to combine work with fun..in a meaningful way.


At 07:11 PM 7/14/96 -0400, you wrote:
> I think Gibson is wrong. Those of us who use it well understand. Like saying
> PCs are a waste of time because some  people  play games djf
>
>
> Sci-Fi author William Gibson, who coined the word "cyberspace," says the
> World Wide Web "offers us the opportunity to waste time, to wander
> aimlessly, to daydream about the countless other lives, the other people, on
> the far sides of however many monitors in that postgeorgraphical
> meta-country we increasingly call home."  Gibson describes the Web as "a
> procrastinator's dream," which offers the added advantage that "people who
> see you doing it might even imagine you're working."  (New York Times
> Magazine 14 Jul 96 p31)