Age: 22

Sex: M

Education: Post Secondary Diploma

Amount of time a week spent on the Internet: 15

Current country, city: Canada, Burnaby

1. What do you use the Internet for and approximately how much time per week on each activity (surfing, e-mail, gaming, chat, research)?
   Emailing, surfing, research probably about 4 hours each/week and Chat about 3 hrs/week
2. Who do you keep in touch with through the Internet (family, friends, strangers, co-workers etc)? And are they local or distant?
   Friends, family but mostly people from school to discuss homework and projects. Most are local with a few exceptions
3. Do you participate in chat groups or news groups? If so, are these special interest groups ie: pro-legalization of marijuana or general chat rooms?
   Not often, I occasionally find myself in sports chat rooms with a bunch of armchair quarterbacks who would like to think they know what they’re talking about
4. Have you ever met anyone on line? If so, have you ever met them in person or intend to?
   NO
5. Have you met people on line who have similar interests/hobbies? If so, how (did you search for them)?
   NO
6. Overall, do you believe that the Internet makes/allows you to be more social and facilitates interaction with others, or do you feel more isolated because of the limits of a computer screen?
   I believe that the internet can be used as a tool of communications to complement your personal face to face interaction but there are those who hide behind the computer screen and choose to isolate themselves
7. Do you find that the time you spent on the Net takes away from face-to-face interaction with others and does this make you feel lonelier?
   NOT AT ALL, with everyone being everywhere, it’s gives me a chance to talk to people that I don’t have an opportunity to see that often
8. Do you feel that communication via Internet makes you feel more accepted because it prevents discrimination associated with visual interaction (ie: racism, sexism)?
   Not really, for some I could see why they might feel this way
9. Are you selective of who you interact with on the Net in terms of gender, race, sexual orientation, economic status, age, etc?
   NOPE
10. How would your life be without the Internet? What would you spend your time doing instead?
    I’d probably be on the phone a lot more and racking up my cell bill or I would be spending more time at school with my group working on projects
11. Do you seek to diversify your perspectives and beliefs on line (via chat or research) or do you look to further develop those you have already formed?
    I’m very open-minded so generally there aren’t too many topics I will shy away from
12. Do you agree that the anonymity of the "virtual" world encourages ‘drive-by’ relationships or have you been able to form more meaningful connections with strangers on the net?
    Well to answer this one, I have to say that from personal experience, I have a good friend that is engaged to be married this summer with someone he originally met on the Internet
13. Finally, do you believe that the Internet widens your experience of community (by helping you to connect to others with different beliefs or backgrounds), or does it deepen your experience (by reinforcing and strengthening existing social networks), or perhaps both? Explain.

I would have to say it deepens my experiences because generally the majority of the communication on the Internet is with people I already know. Like stated earlier, I see the Internet as a tool of communications that is there to complement my ways of communicating.