Of the 393 readers of The Scientist who answered our recent survey, 95% spend one-half hour or more visiting Web sites every day, and 63% browse for more than an hour. Some 70% use more than half of their Web-cruising time visiting sites relating to their work.
Echoing many of our respondents, one reader comments, "The Web has revolutionized how I get scientific information. I hardly ever go to the library any more!" Another warns, "I have come to realize that visiting Web sites is becoming the greatest addiction in ... technologically advanced nations."
Some already are addicted. "Sometimes," says one reader, "I forget that information exists in other formats .... One day, while talking with my mother, I said, 'I'll look up the address on the Web.' She said, with gravity, 'For gosh sake ... use the telephone book!'"
--Alexander Grimwade
