Internet Improves Lives, Poll ShowsInternet Improves Lives, Poll Shows

The last few weeks have been frustrating for people on the Internet, with viruses spreading faster than ever, denial of service attacks slowing connections, and annoying pop-up ads becoming increasingly common. But despite all the aggravations, a new poll shows that almost all E-mail users believe the Internet and E-mail have made their lives better.

The poll, conducted by the Gallup organization, surveyed 391 E-mail-connected adults across the United States about their online habits. It found that 97% of respondents say that E-mail has made their lives better, and 96% believe the Internet has as well. "It's kind of amazing," says Jeffrey Jones, managing editor of the poll. "[The Internet] has become such an integral part of everyone's lives."

More than half of those surveyed say they primarily send and read E-mail when they're online. Only about a third spend most of their time using the Web to search for information, and only 4% make financial transactions, such as buying merchandise and paying bills. The typical E-mail user is online seven or eight hours a week, and age and gender don't seem to be factors in how much time is spent online.

But it's not all wine and roses on the Internet, and E-mail users don't care for some of the more aggressive online marketing techniques that have become common. Forty-two percent of those polled say they "hate spam," and another 45% find it an annoyance. None of those polled say they "really like to receive spam." Even worse are increasingly common "pop-up" ads: 65% of respondents say they found those more annoying than spam.

Jones says that even though spam is more common than pop-ups, the intrusive windows irritate users more because they're harder to ignore and they slow down page loads. But he figures the annoyance will lessen as people get used to --and get around-- pop-ups. "Spam has been around a little longer, and there are technologies to deal with it," he says. "I'm sure that just as they found a way to get around spam, people will develop ways to deal with pop-up ads."