These thoughts came to my mind as my group work on its task, as I watched all of your fine theatrical debuts, and as I listened to your comments...
The Internet's ease of use makes many tasks more pleasant.
The Internet's ease of use makes misuse easier, too.
Anything I do with the Internet to hamper family communication, I can do with other technologies, too -- television, newspaper, books.
Some people want paper receipts that are more official than a printed web page. Will this always be true, or as the younger generation grows will peaoples' expectations change? I can't help but think of the printed receipts from ATMs that people wad up and throw on the ground...
The Internet introduces substantial technological changes in how we do ordinary tasks. BUT: the biggest changes are social. No amount of improving the technology can cause people to do the right things.
The Internet allows people to communicate based on their interests, not based only on convenience and location.
Late adopters of technologies avoid many costs associated with making the technology work and work better. They also ease into the social changes. The costs may include opportunity costs from having used, learned, adapted the the technology more quickly.
[Add a note about Hubert Dreyfus's talk on campus a few years ago, and our conversation about social networks.]
None this time -- I forgot to assign anyone to the job!