The Internet Is Different For Everybody
The Internet Is Different For Everybody

The Internet Is Different For Everybody

It’s something I’ve always been peripherally aware of, and no doubt the same is probably true for you as well. But sometimes something happens that brings it home with unusual force or clarity, and I’m forced to re-examine the implications.

Every single person in the world experiences a different internet.

Do You Even…

One of the, not uncommon, quasi-insults that gets flung in my home with great joy is “Do you even internet?”

See, the better half and I move in very different circles online, and it’s not often that those circles intersect.

My internet is the internet of marketing. The internet of gaming. The internet of literature. Hers is the internet of art. The internet of fashion. The internet of entertainment.

There are places where our internets do overlap of course.

There are a lot of different internets, it turns out.

We’re both quite keen on the internet of science for example, not to mention the internets of current events and random facts.

We both have an internet of food, but they’re basically diametrically opposed. She’s vegan (I don’t hold it against her), and I’m effectively a carnivore (which she manages not to hold against me either).

The internet of philosophy holds attractions for us both too but, naturally, we enter that particular internet via very different gates as well. Mine tends toward a moral subjectivist starting point while her starting point is usually a Mahayana Buddhist one.

As such, when one of us expresses doubt or surprise over some snippet of information, the fact that it’s “all over the internet” makes the other amazed that one uses the internet at all.

Because the internet is different for everybody.

One Size Fits Nobody

I see it all the time. The business owner who “designs” his site to fit what he thinks looks good online, but doesn’t bother to think about his potential audience.

The corporate websites “designed” by committee, where everybody has to make their mark, and nobody cares about user experience. If they even know what one is.

And don’t think the so-called professionals are necessarily much better.

All of our preconceived notions about how other people “must” behave online stem from the very narrow baseline of how we behave online, perhaps leavened with some anecdotal caveats. And unless we’re very aware of the danger (and admittedly the best of the professionals are), we bring a whole host of assumptions to the table.

Anecdotally Speaking

You want an anecdote about how other people see the internet? I watched this one happen myself.

My significant other, who, while not really tech, (although more than competent with the programs she uses) is nonethless pretty internet-savvy, was looking at 2nd hand café racers on a popular classified-type local site. (She like bikes.)

She found one that looked promising, and decided to make an enquiry. She then spent the next few minutes furiously searching for a link that would allow her to do so.

The site in question features a large, bright orange “make an enquiry” (or whatever the CTA is) button prominently displayed in the right sidebar. She couldn’t see it.

I watched in amazement for a while before pointing it out, and asking why it had eluded her. She explained that she habitually ignores brightly coloured stuff on the sidebar, because it’s always ads.

Take from that what you will.

It Doesn’t Matter

One size might not fit anybody quite right, but on the other hand, it means that everybody has the same handicaps. So in some senses, it doesn’t matter that you’re never going to be able to cater to everybody.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that you’re fine, as long as you cater well enough to most of the people you’re trying to reach.

If you’ve ever cursed somebody for the unintuitive place they put their contact link, then you know what I mean. Just because it’s not ideal, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It’s just a slightly greater barrier.

That said, every barrier could be seen as one too many.

Different For Everybody

You already know this. But if you’re like me, it’s not something you think about all that often. We tend to think of the internet as this one single entity, almost like a locale, a city, a world even perhaps, that we all inhabit at different times, but seeing essentially the same things.

The truth though, is that this is not the case.

The internet is a construct assembled from the needs, requirements, perspectives and preconceptions of every person who uses it. We might all have the same parts to work with, but nobodies looks, feels, or behaves quite the same as anybody else’s.

As with so many other things, we make it up as we go along. Taking the bits that we personally find useful or interesting, and discarding or ignoring all the others.

It’s probably worth keeping in mind.

 

The Internet Is Different For Everybody