Is The Internet Just A Fad? By VIRAF MOHTA Author, The World Wide Web for Kids and Parents.

Viraf Mohta

Remember Christmas shopping last year? The wonderful long lines at the Toys 'R' Us, the thrill of finding a parking spot only eleven rows from the entrance to the mall, and those exciting trips to a store - any store, even those across state boundaries - which so much as whispered "Tickle Me Elmo".  Oh memories! How they soothe the soul! And to think that before you can say "Happy Thanksgiving" ten times fast, it'll be upon us all over again. Looking forward to it, aren't you? And what will the fad be this year. A duck which quacks as it lays an egg? 

I've often been asked if the Internet too is just a fad; one which will run out of steam just as quickly as it became a household name. 

The Internet is an incredible product of technology, one that has uniquely shrunk the world and has expanded it simultaneously. As if television and radio hadn't done enough to make our world smaller, the Internet has made it smaller still, by giving the masses a low cost, reliable mode of communication. That's what the telephone is for, you say. Consider this; an hour on the phone with my folks in Bombay, costs me about $40. Chatting with them on the Internet for an hour costs me less than half a cent! Oh, did I mention that on the Internet I can see my folks too, using the Internet's video capabilities? Get the picture? 

Until now, a select few in the media decided what the rest of us commoners watched and read. It was largely a one-way mode of communication; a mode of communication which the Internet changed radically, in favor of John Doe. It changed the rules of the game, giving Johnny the same power as the New York Times and CNN to air his views. It morphed him from a passive viewer who was used to being flooded with information, to one who could do the flooding himself. It carried his voice across oceans, and expanded his world which until now was confined to his neighborhood. It became the great equalizer putting  him on a level playing field with media barons. 

This kind of power in the hands of the people, was unheard of prior to the 'Net revolution. And you know what happens when people get power. They want more. So I don't believe that the Internet is just a fad. It's here to stay. It'll be here long after the hoopla surrounding it dies. It'll be around as long as people have something to say and an opinion to share. 

Viraf Mohta is the author of the recently published book - The World Wide Web for Kids and Parents. Published by IDG Books Worldwide, it is part of the Dummies Guide To Family Computing and has been awarded the Family Channel Seal of Quality. Viraf works at Merrill Lynch and holds an MBA in Management Information Systems. He is also an entrepreneur, marathoner, and the 1992 World Champion in Full-Contact Stickfighting.