The Internet Trap (2005)

The Internet Trap

By Tatiana Andronache, I.S.P.
Published in ComputerWorld Canada, 2005

It was said before and it may be repeated with no fear of mistake: the Internet brought to us the EF world: Easy and Fun; Efficient and Fast. We work, play, learn and shop on the web – not necessarily in that order of priority. Aren’t we, sons and daughters of the 21^st century, the most privileged and luckiest bunch in history so far? The answer is well worthy of some elaboration.

Home alone

 If you are a citizen of the developed world – and statistics show that many other regions are catching up on the Internet front – you probably manage your finances and many other personal business on-line. The financial institutions surely want you to do so because it is cheaper for them; most day-to-day transactions (and some complex ones) are available to you 24/7, from the comfort of your home. You no longer have to spend time and calories or gas in order to attend to your banking needs. Instead, you have to own and maintain a computer, install connection gear of some sort, pay for the internet connection, keep up with all sorts of security patches and upgrades, pay for the anti-virus software, a comfortable chair, and voilà! in a few seconds your transaction is done (unless you succumb to other attractions, of a financial nature or otherwise, that pop-up in your face). You can move to your next interaction – because probably you do business with more than one financial institution. Those few seconds have become a good half an hour before you know it.

Music listening, shopping for a plethora of things, from books to grocery to cars, staying in touch with friends via email and blogs, and, the next big thing, e-government, also claim their share of our time and glue us in front of the computers, or attach us to our mobile devices. We spend time on the Internet to gain time, so that we have more time to spend…well, on the Internet. This happens at the expense of our time allocation for in-person interaction with our family, friends and other non “electronic” pursuits, because no matter how great and fast the internet is, a day still has 24 hours and minutes add up quickly.

All these undeniable benefits are delivered to the public on the somewhat arrogant assumption that everyone owns or has access to a computer, and is willing to invest the time and money that it takes to keep up the system. If you are not of  the “techie” type, you are quickly falling out of luck because old ways are becoming expensive and far apart. It strikes one as strange that, at least in North America, despite the ubiquity of computing and the web, there is no large-scale public access to the Internet – yes, there are libraries, schools and internet cafeés, but nothing that can compare to the expansion and ease of use of the telephone service, for example.

Working on the Web

Similar convenience – and trap - is extended to many of us in the work place. Typically, the same financial institution that has developed a bottomless website for its customers, would have in place a vast intranet, where employees can see the latest corporate news and announcements, manage their benefits on-line, their profiles for various internal business applications, take part in forums, etc. Everything is can now be done on-line, where before, one would have to call various people in other departments, ask and walk around and waste precious production time in the process. But while the infrastructure that the employee has to interact with as part of the job/employment status has grown considerably, little thought has been given to providing time allowances and time-on-web management skills to these employees. No wonder that Internet and email abuse has become a problem, to the extent that companies may no longer have a net gain in productivity attributable to these technologies.

It is also amazing that, based on anecdotal evidence and personal experience, knowledge workers do not spend less time working thanks to the various web-enabled applications; overall, they spend more time working - and are expected to spend even more.

Words for the wise

So how can one avoid the Internet trap – at home and at work?  Be aware that the trap is there, that a lot is being downloaded to you under the EF disguise, and all of it cumulated ultimately encroaches upon your time, budget and health. Therefore, use the Internet sparingly and remain focused on the task: do what you have to do and get out quickly, don’t get side-tracked. Understand that most commercial websites and web-based businesses are not necessarily designed with your best interests in mind: do your math and do not pay for the wonderful convenience they provide with more of your time and money than it is really worth to you.  

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