There are various reasons why different groups of people may use the Internet. Again like the advantages it could be down to age, interests and life styles or other things. One of the main reasons why people use the Internet is for educational means, gathering information so that they are able to learn about a certain subject or topic. Other reasons are: -
1. Communication with other people throughout the world via email and chat boards, this enables people to organise things a lot easier and without a phone call or other means, it is also a form of entertainment.
2. Entertainment, the Internet can entertain people in many ways, the Internet allows the downloading of files, these files may be videos, music, documents, images or even software and enable people to enjoy themselves and have fun.
3. Online purchasing enables shopping from your home, many items can be brought ranging from music CD’s to garden accessories to clothes. Items brought online are delivered to you so that you are not required to leave where ever you are to collect the item.
These are the 3 main reasons why the Internet is so popular and is increasing the number of users everyday.
The majority of Internet users tend to be quite young mostly in the age group of 14-35 year olds because there is more to do on the internet for that age group for example
Teenager
A teenager might use the internet to communicate with their friends via email or chat rooms , these chat rooms and email are world wide so people can contact other people anywhere in the world as long as there is an internet connection. They might also use the Internet for downloads, these downloads may include music like songs from various artists, nearly every song ever made by an artist is on the web, other downloads can be games to play for entertainment purpose, there are tons of games to play online or even offline. A teenager may also use the Internet for research needs, a wide range of articles can be found on the net, which makes it appealing to students who can use this material to help them with homework’s and assignments.
Although these are the main reasons a teenager may use the internet it dose not mean that other groups of people do not use it for the same reasons but there may be other main reasons as well as, for example
Housewife’s
Housewife’s may use the Internet as a means to purchase items and goods over the net. This is called Internet shopping and is done over the computer and they are able to get the goods delivered without having to leave their home . There are other reasons why a housewife might use the Internet, these might be that she could want to contact her friends or make new friends via chat rooms or email and also can use online banking
Pensioners
Pensioners might use the Internet for online shopping because they may not be able to get out the house much to purchase items or goods . They also might use the Internet for banking online or checking their pensions. They might also use the Internet as a means to communicate with their relatives and friends via email they can also use the Internet to communicate with old friends they used to know . They may also use it to find out news and information around the world like upcoming events or recent happenings.
Business Men
Businessmen might use the Internet to look at competitors and find out how they are running their business. They might also use the Internet to contact customers and send them details or get feedback from them. The Internet is also good for advertising businesses and for seeking employees, many businesses advertise job posts online.
The Internet is now becoming more popular than ever and is now accessible in many places. Even businesses are taking advantage of the Internet and have set up companies which allow you to use the Internet in their shop for example a Internet café or salon, the availability of the internet has increased the number of users dramatically. Just last year in 2002 Internet user figures world wide showed on estimate that the number of people on the Internet was 563 million and has increased this year to 580 million. This is an increase of 17 million users in one year and numbers are expected to increase even more over the next few years.
