Is the Internet a fad which has had its day? It seems that growing numbers
of people who have tried the Net are
abandoning it, turning their computers off and
going outside into the sunlight.
This raises some interesting issues.
If 1994, when the influx of Internet users began was "the year September never
ended" (September being the start of the US academic year and the traditional
influx of newbies), could the Great September be said to be over, having lasted
some six years? Will ordinary, non-technical people generally keep using the
Net casually, or will they completely abandon it (as CB radio was abandoned
after the late-70s boom)? Will what remains go back to some semblance of the
halcyon days of yore before spam and "Me Too" posts from AOL, or will it
dwindle away into an all but dead medium?