Abstract
The increasing presence of the Internet in our everyday life raises
important questions about what it means for access to resources,
social interaction, and commitment to local community. This special
issue of the American Behavioral Scientist brings together seven
U.S., one U.K., one Canadian, and one North American study that examine
the way in which the Internet competes with and complements everyday
life. These studies show the Internet as a complex landscape of applications,
purposes, and users. This introduction summarizes results from studies
in this issue and other extant recent surveys, providing an overview
of the Internet population and its activities, statistics that help
define and articulate the nature of the digital divide. The authors
move from there to consideration of the social consequences of adding
Internet activity to our daily lives, exploring how use of the Internet
affects traditional social and communal behaviors such as communication
with local family and commitment to geographical communities. They
conclude with a look at how these studies reveal the integration
of the Internet into our everyday lives.
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