A Box of Candy:  You Can Get Anything You Want on the Internet, But Maybe You Shouldn't

           By T. Evan Schaeffer

           It seems impossible these days to escape the news about the so-called information revolution and the Internet. Even many who don't own computers know that the Internet is the worldwide collection of networked computers, accessible from the home or office by anyone with the proper computer equipment and hookups.

          Over the past two years, the Internet has expanded at a phenomenal rate, and now the experts are making some surprising claims. In a discussion among four intellectuals printed in a recent Harper's one participant said the development of the online community was "the most transforming technological event since the capture of fire." Eventually, said another, the printed word will lose its pre-eminence as the preferred method of communicating written information. Is it going to happen any time soon? It isn't likely.

          Despite the bold claims of the deep thinkers, much of what's available online is to information what the National Enquirer is to journalism, or candy to your diet. Though enjoyable for a while, it might be better not to indulge at all.

          Here are some recent developments from the Internet, as reported in national publications. Each illustrates the point.

          Those with access to the World Wide Web have been helping themselves to daily servings of the Winona Ryder home page. You might know Winona Ryder simply as the spunky actress from "Little Women." But there's much more to Ryder, and those with online access can tap into a centralized depository of information about every one of Ryder's films. Free for the taking are photos, sound bites, and soon, video clips.

          In a similar vein is the Theme page, a World Wide Web site where people can download thousands of songs from old television shows. Although it's difficult to wax nostalgic about the themes to "F-Troop" or "Gilligan's Island," the creator of this web site claims that up to 5,000 people visit the site each day.

          For those with a literary bent, it's now possible to access fiction that's published solely on the Internet. These short stories wouldn't make Hemingway proud. Even so, an online journal called "e Scene" has been picking out the best of them and making them easily available for all to read. Among this year's winners is a story about a doughnut shop waitress who experiences a terrible, bone shaking loneliness during the late-night shift. Another chronicles a day in the life of a medical student who is awarded "Kevorkian points" by his bosses after he participates in the failure to keep an accident victim alive in the emergency room.

          Tired of bad fiction? Then there's a World Wide Web site that will fill your computer screen with the first 1.25 million digits of pi. It's worthless for any scientific purpose, since transmission errors can easily jumble the numbers.

          For those who can't get enough junk information, there is a World Wide Web page called, appropriately enough, Useless WWW Pages, that will automatically link a user to more than 100 other useless web pages. According to Cyber Surfer magazine, this site has been visited more than 650,000 times this year, making it one of the most popular places on the Internet.

          Meanwhile, an e-mail discussion forum has been developed on the Internet for people addicted to surfing online who want help getting their lives back. As amazing as it might sound, there are people who find it impossible to leave their computer screens as they spend hours reading about movie stars, listening to TV theme songs, and watching the number pi scroll from top to bottom. Once they tire of this, they e-mail long messages to others who are similarly afflicted. Hence, the discussion group.

          Should you panic if you don't yet have online access? I don't think so. For one thing, you're not missing a lot. For another, you're not alone. Though the past seven years have seen a growth in home computers from five million households to 32 million, this still leaves two-thirds of U.S. homes without even the potential for online access. The figure is surprising, given the way the Internet has been hyped in the media.

          Of course, the Internet also boasts many treasures, free for the dowloading with a modem. But until the printed word is officially gone, almost anything of value that's available online can still be retrieved the old fashioned way - at your neighborhood library.

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