Internet still a source of fun

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With over one million users already signed up since its arrival here a decade ago, the Internet remains a recreational instead of educational, let alone inspirational, device for most of its users, a survey has revealed.

Of the 963 respondents surveyed, the main group of users aged between 20 and 30 used the Internet to send or to check e-mails, while teenagers used it primarily for chatting.

Only a few of the respondents have their eyes regularly glued to the computer screen to browse for information or news, and even fewer of this group explore the technology for educational purposes.

"The Internet as a new environment and new way of thinking has not been absorbed into the cognition of its users. The Internet is only perceived as a facility, tool and technology, not an electronic landscape where various social relations become non- material and virtual," Media Research Ignas Kleden and Associates said in its report.

The study also revealed that income did not have much connection with interest in the Internet.

Respondents with a monthly income of between Rp 500,000 (US$54) and Rp 1,500,000 made up the majority of Internet users. They mostly spent up to Rp 100,000 every month.

"The level of Internet usage and preparedness to pay for it do not correspond to income and salary," the survey said.

All the respondents resided in Jakarta, and were categorized by sex, age, education and economic status.

The survey revealed that 228 of the respondents preferred leisure or entertainment articles to home affairs news, let alone political news.

The survey also suggested that many dotcom companies would not be able to survive the tight competition as they had failed to identify their market and its needs.