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S. Smith 1
New Computer Users and Fear:
A Review of Some Related Literature
In one of the very first chapters of his book Internet Basics without
fear!, Fawcett observed, "It was my fear of technology that drove me in my
early days on the Internet" (23). Later in the same chapter he went on to
elaborate at length on his experiences:
My first experiences with the Internet were not pleasant ones. At that
time, most Internet users were hooked-up to public networks known as
Freenets. These networks may have been pioneering in many ways, but
for the average user at the time, they were extremely tedious and
frustrating, sporting technology that, by today's standards, was
bordering on primitive.
A typical Internet evening involved many long
and frustrating hours of
fumbling around in 'cyber-blackness'. It
frequently took an entire evening
just to check my e-mail! A session
was often prefaced by hours of busy
signals before finally making a
connection. (26)
According to that author, at that time everything was text-based and
menu-driven. Typically, the entire purpose of one's online sessions would be
just to send and read e-mails. As he underlines, it was not a user-centric
environment, "Only the more savvy 'tekkie-types', went beyond that, often
spending endless hours exchanging cyber-musings with like-minded
propeller heads." (27)
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