European perceptions and the use of the internet

While much of the growing body of research about the Internet focuses on interactions online, this paper1 reports on the results of a 5-country qualitative study which examined how the Internet relates to, or potentially relates to, the way in which people and households experience their daily home life. There were some general national differences in overall attitudes to the Internet and some minor differences which were culturally specific. But on the whole there was much that was common across all the countries. In a historical perspective, the main finding is the extent to which this innovation has been domesticated. While it has not revolutionised everyday life, it has usually found a stable, though often modest, place within people’s lives in a very short period of time. Few of the middle-class sample interviewed in the study totally rejected the Internet and while a number of users had ‘no need’ for it at the moment they thought they might go online in the future: so the prospects for the Internet appear good. One key factor which shaped, as well as constrained, usage was the nature of people’s ‘free’ disposable time.