Social scientists are eager to track the Net's impact because it is regarded by most as a significant new social force on par with or greater than the advent of the printing press and the television. Further, there is a sense that had as much attention been paid to the consequences of television from the beginning, its role in society today would be better understood - and possibly different. It took the Net just 7 years to spread as far. Concerns remain that the Internet is not equally accessible to all. Gender gap narrows The gap, however, is narrowing when it comes to income and gender.
Women now make up half the online population.
But while the demographics of Internet use are important, increasingly social scientists are looking at how the Net is used, to evaluate its influence on values and behavior. The UCLA report finds that Americans who go online do so without carving into family time. The vast majority of Net users say that since connecting at home, members of the household spend the same, or more, time together. In fact, it appears that when folks go online, the activity that most falls by the wayside is watching television. Users and nonusers talk on the phone, read books and newspapers at about equal rates.