IDC paints an interesting picture of our future with the results of its latest survey, which says that 1.4 billion people, almost a quarter of the population, will use the internet regularly in 2008.
By 2012, 30% of the population will be online through a total of three billion devices that include PCs, games consoles and mobile phones.
It's likely to have a growing impact on our day to day lives as almost half of all internet users will purchase online in 2008 of the 40% worldwide that currently have internet access.
It's an encouraging statistic if you look at it from an adoption of useful new technologies point of view, but on the flip-side of the coin it does seem to be affecting our social lives.
Another survey by dating and friendship website Makefriendsonline interviewed 25,000 members to discover that a frightening 18% no longer feel confident in meeting people in 'traditional' social situations. Men seem to rely more then women on websites like this to make contacts, with 20% of blokes depending entirely on the internet in this way compared to 15% of women.
The rise of websites like Myspace and Facebook, communication mediums like instant messaging and the popularity of online gaming stifle the need for physical interaction for many people, and with these set to become even more popular over coming years it does make you wonder how reliant we'll all end up being on impersonal forms of interaction. - Paul Lester
[PCWorld]
[ResponseSource]
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Editor | Martin Lynch
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