DOES THE INTERNET DETERMINE THE NATURE OF COMMUNICATION?

ABSTRACT. Chen et al. point out that the Internet may be modestly increasing interaction with friends and relatives at a distance, has mixed local effects, and may be diverting people from household interactions. Wellman says that the Internet is an excellent medium for supporting far-flung, intermittent, networked communities. Innis emphasizes that a medium of communication has an important influence on the dissemination of knowledge over space and time. Turner points out that the rhetoric of peer-to-peer informationalism actively obscures the material and technical infrastructures on which both the Internet and the lives of the digital generation depend.

JEL: D38, D72, L86