Web Addiction Spoils The Party
The candles glowed on the birthday cake when websites celebrated their 25th last week but some at the party pondered what the future holds.
The very first website went live on the embryonic internet on August 6, 1991.
For the first time an online page included links that could be followed to other pages. It was created by the ‘inventor of the world wide web,’ Sir Tim Berners-Lee. That ‘site’ used this new form of publishing to describe, with remarkable foresight, a vision of ‘an easy to use but powerful global information system.’
However, news also broke last week that all is not well in the world of the web, a quarter of a century on. Addiction issues are causing more than just headaches.
A report just published by Ofcom indicated that a majority of internet users believe that over reliance on it is having a negative impact on their lives. In a survey, 59% of those responding said they considered themselves ‘hooked.’ A surprising 34% stated that they had gone so far as to take a break from going online altogether for what the report writers called a ‘Digital Detox.’
Nevertheless, the report indicated that the average user spends 25 hours per week online. That is over a third of waking hours for typical adult. Another term coined in the report was ‘Connectivity Creep’ describing how virtually half the respondents said they spend more time online than they intend, neglecting housework, missing sleep and losing out on both family life and friendships.
That, of course, was not part of the original vision.
The report can be found on the home page at www.ofcom.org.uk
