Apparently the Internet Was Not Such a Harebrained Scheme After All

The Internet has made the transition from next new thing to latest old thing. We no longer read of big increases in the proportion of Americans who are wired. Some of the novelty has worn off, not least for people who invested in dot-com ventures as the bubble was about to burst. Without fanfare, though, the Internet continues to extend its presence in the daily lives of a majority of Americans. Some recent research indicates the ways in which this is happening.

While e-mail retains its “killer-app” status, a Harris Poll finds it’s the one significant Internet activity whose frequency of use has declined in the past few years.