Peoples patience with web-sites decreasing?

[legios]

Just saw this on the BBC news web-site:-

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7417496.stm

some interesting food for thought about the way folk use the web.

It makes sense though - the web has finally passed the point where it is subsumed into the public conciousness. It is no longer a thing in itself that amazes folk by what it can do, it is just another tool for getting things done. (Following the same trajectory as the telephone really).

Karl

[The Doctor]

When I was first at Uni over a decade ago (1995-1999), I was one of the few people on my course who had any idea the internet existed. I remember trying to tell people about it and getting mad looks. Frankly, I was astounded that after waiting perhaps only 5-10 minutes I could read material, etc from another country. Message boards and newsgroups blew my mind. I could read what people in other countries were saying! I recall showing a fellow student what a chat room was like. She was astounded and remarked that she would "remember this [experience] all her life".

Now, the internet has passed into the everyday and I do sometimes lose the sense of wonder it once generated for me. I recall being completely boggled by the idea that I could press a button and a few hours later whatever TV programme I wanted to watch would be on the computer, within 24 hours of it airing in another country. And in the proper aspect ratio, with no ad breaks and in better quality than if I had watched it on broadcast off the telly! Yet now, I get annoyed sometimes at waiting just a few minutes as I have become accustomed to streaming video.

Hmmm.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

What it comes down to is that people always want more than what they've got.

There's less patience around in general these days. People are impatient if they can't contact someone instantly because their mobile phone's switched off. People (including me, most days) are too impatient to take the time to prepare meals properly.

It's not that people are lazy - people are still busy - but there are certain things people expect not to have to give their time to any more... such as addressing an envelope and going out to post a letter, going to a library to look something up in an encyclopedia, or peeling vegetables.

Is it progress? Dunno. If you didn't have friends through the Internet, would you have made more effort to make friends locally? If you didn't have ready meals, would you eat more healthily? If you had no car and no on-line shopping, would you be fitter because you walk to the shops?

Is the world better with modern conveniences?

If so, are we appreciative or are we blind to our blessings and just moan at what isn't perfect?

I don't know what to think, really.

One thing I do know, however, is that if I had to give up books or the Internet I'd give up the Internet. Much tighter quality control when it comes to books, and I never shut a book after being absorbed in it for hours and think 'I've wasted my afternoon'. With the Internet, that does happen.

Martin

[The Doctor]

Yes! A world without books would be a much duller world indeed.

-Ralph

[Bogatan]

I cant even remember when I discovered the internet. I dont remember being bemused by the internet when I first watched the The Net, but I dont remember being exposed to it before then. We got our first PC in 97 and it had a modem. We used it to access local bullitin boards. They were very popular in hull because they only cost the flat rate 5p call charge per time so we spent hours on them in chat rooms and play scrabble etc.

It still amaze me that when I started college in Sept 98 the net was still something that was exciting I remember the computer rooms being full all the time as it was still expensive to surf at home. THe web was well established by then but still not common yet by the time I started uni in Sept 2001 it had already become part of the landscape.

Andy

[The Doctor]

What astounded me was coming back to Uni last year and finding out that the internet (and computers) were not utalised at all by tutors. It was like going back in time to before 1995.

-Ralph

[Deleted]

For me the novelty has gone from the internet. I first discovered the internet while at college in 1998 and spent most of my dinnertimes playing online games. There then came a gap of about six or seven years before I used the internet again when I visited my local library after work. It was the beginning of last year however that I finally got internet access in my own home and, like the previous two occasions I considered it one of the best things technology has ever given us. Sadly, as the year went on I slowly began to lose interest in the internet due to me going on it on a daily basis for about five or six hours a day. The novelty has worn off for me because it is no longer an exciting prospect of sitting in front of a computer and logging on but rather some daily routine that I've done a million times before.

[grahamthomson]

I like the Internet for getting the news quickly, catching up with mates and (legally) downloading music, television shows and films. That's about it now. Oh, porn as well, of course.

I don't think I am any less patient with it these days, though. Perhaps, these days, we're all a little more savvy with it and are more expedient in our browsing because we know what we want and where to get it.

[Andy Turnbull]

I wouldn't say I am impatient with it. I am however a stickler for demanding a nicely formatted site. Too much wankery with flash was the bane of my life in the early 00's as every webmaster and his dog spooged over it. Glad to see it has subsided a little.

Andy

[grahamthomson]

Heh! Remember all those "new" animated lozenges and animated flames next to new articles on the really old websites?

When the Hub first started we did have an introductory flashwank at the time.

[Andy Turnbull]

Oh yes it takes me back.

I never had much patience with the internet when I was at un as I had far too many other things on my mind. Only really getting into it when I got a pc at home and went online in 2001.

Andy

[The Doctor]

I do find myself irked when sites take a while to load. Phone wifi has spoiled me.

-Ralph