ABSTRACT

For a majority of the US population, the Internet has woven itself into the natural rhythms of everyday life. Innovations such as cell phones, wireless Internet hot spots, and portable devices such as Blackberries, Palm Treos, and iPhones, which have extended the Internet’s reach outside the confines of a desktop computer or laptop, have facilitated the Internet’s seamless integration into daily life. As we progress through the twenty-first century, the Internet will continue to mainstream into an invisible and unobtrusive part of daily life, be it in the workplace, on school campuses, in the home, in the mall, in the park, on the beach, or in our automobiles (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2005).