Hvorfor er det sjovt at surfe på nettet? - Forskning

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Underholdende internetsøgninger – Serena Borsello
fritid udvikles til at dække emner, som de ikke havde intention om at læse om. Det følgende
udsagn er et eksempel på, hvordan nysgerrighed kan styre en internetsøgning.
”Say I´m looking at the evening paper (on the web), then I
can see something that seems interesting and I go on to look at
those, let´s say strawberries. I had no intention to read about
strawberries when I sat down at the computer. Or when I want to
see the results of the horse races, I do that too, then it can be
something about a horse or something. I very often get sidetracked
when I´m surfing” (Hektor 2001, s. 156).
Nygerrighed kan muligvis bliver understøttet af det faktum, at det på internettet er
nemt, på internettet, at forfølge det, som det følgende udsagn viser:
”[…] You can search for information easier. If you go to a
library you need to know what you are looking for. Now you sit and
click and find paths you did not look for. […]” (Hektor 2001, s. 156);
”I can search without knowing what I want to do with the
information. As an example, I can write the name of an old
classmate, or put in some words just to see what turns up. If you
write ´sex and beach ball´, what bizzarre combination is going to
turn up?” (Hektor 2001, s. 157).
Vigtigheden af informationen kan være så lav, at brugere endda kan glemme at søge
informationen, hvis noget kommer i vejen:
“It depends on how important I perceive that piece of
information to be. If it is something that would have been
interesting, for instance to do with my project, . . . not crucial I might
just forget about it . . . I’ll probe again through a few weeks time or
couple of months time and it might be there next time because
things, you know, appear and reappear. If it is something that I
really need to know I will try different avenues” (Mansourian 2008a,
209).
De oplevelser beskrevet i disse udsagn er ikke et usædvanligt fænomen. 55% af
respondenter af en telefonisk undersøgelse foretaget i USA i 2004 tilkendegiver, at halvdelen