Internet still seen as a tool

The third set of results of a mega study of young people's participation on the Internet in the UK was released today. In the report, they took the slant of trying to determine what the split was between levels of participation in civic interaction versus "other" activities. Sadly, there was no mention of community or even connectedness really with others -- the researchers seemed to have focused on Internet use as a solitary activity.

I find this notable and sad simultaneously because this survey was heavily funded, empirically driven, sociological in focus and sponsored by a large number of major corporations. The opportunity was definitely there to attempt to determine empiraclly how British youth use the online space for interpersonal connectedness, but the opportunity was ignored in favour of the entrenched view of the Internet as tool rather than space.

Pity.