“I was afraid of the internet… because I couldn’t type”

For those of us who work (and play, and seemingly live) online, it’s strange to think that so many people aren’t comfortable with the ways of the web.

I live with one such lady. She doesn’t know how to attach files to emails. She doesn’t know how to save email addresses in her AOL account. She has a terrible time where her computer is concerned – just the mention of the words ‘firewire’ or ‘printer drivers’ and she gets hot flushes.

And of course, she’s not alone. In 2007, the UK was estimated to have 40.2 million internet users, a number that’s likely to have increased over the past two years. What these figures don’t tell us is the sophistication of the users. How web savvy are they? How would you even measure that? Being an internet user – having a connection – doesn’t mean you understand the power of the resource in front of you – and how to use it to your best advantage.

Many people – who weren’t using the internet for research at school or communication with their friends and colleagues – have never been taught how to use the internet, and for this reason, fear it.

But of course, there’s no reason to be afraid. While it might seem big and scary, there are plenty of ways to get involved and learn.

• If you have kids, why not take the time to see what websites they visit and how they use them?
• Take tutorials where they are offered
• If you don’t see the answer to your problem, type it into Google and see if someone else has had the same issue (someone once described the internet as a great big problem solving machine).

Take the plunge, and see what it could fix!

Don’t worry if you’re still concerned. The internet has perplexed many of our greatest thinkers – Jack Welch said “I was afraid of the internet… because I couldn’t type” – but ultimately, they have all embraced it. Perhaps you should do that same.

This post was originally published by Helia on Tue, 01/06/2009