Usage of the Internet in Daily Life

I have been dealing with lots of trade - folk lately and it always interesting for me to understand if they use the Internet and how they use it. I just am searching for bids for installation of ACs in my new house in which I asked the gentleman to email me the quote. So after three tries of trying to write my email ID, the gentleman quickly put his assistant on the phone to take my email and promised to send it promptly. The email arrived but with no attachment of the quote – so I called the vendor back. He said – "Maam – I think that it will be simpler for me to just get it sent across to you. (Send it across - meaning physically). What is your address – it will be there in an hour or two." So that was that – and my quote arrived on paper a couple of hours later.

I have also been dealing with Architect and a relatively small company that is making my furniture for me. The good news is that they all have INTERNET access and all have email. What is difficult is the communication and constant back and forth discussion. It has been mainly used to send across a quote, a document or a picture. But in terms of dicussion, one just picks up the phone. There is none of this email back and forth.

I have also been watching the younger generation and their usage of the net. There is definitely a lot of entertainment content being used – ie. Downloading songs, playing games online, email, using Facebook and Orkut and ofcourse going to Youtube. Most of the kids in our house use the Internet every other day. And for about 30 minutes or so. Even in the house where I am staying, even though we have WLAN, we do not keep it on all the time. We turn it on when we want to access the NET. It is not part of the daily obsession to wake-up and check emails!

I can already see a lot of iPhones in Delhi although it has just been released a couple of months ago. I was at the Intercontinental Hotel speaking with the shift manager and asked him a question. He quickly whisked out his iphone to get me the answer. This seems to be quite the norm – with people using the mobile more frequently to access the Internet and search for quick information.

I was also impressed when interviewing for my assistant that most of them use the Internet regularly from home. Most of them use it for email. They all also applied for the job - using one of the websites were we had posted the listing. Couple of them had even searched for company information to prepare for the Internet. So, all in all, in the Metro there is a familiarity, usage but not an obsession with being online.