Hi Frank!
Well, I'm constantly amazed that many of my students, who I now suddenly realize are not just a couple of years but a decade younger than me (what happened?), know little more about the Internet than IM, e-mail, and have rather limited experience in surfing the web. They don't know Usenet,
Maybe, all this is simply a sign, that the Internet is getting a part of life - I cannot recall how it was when other media was "new", but I can imagine, that the approach towards a totally new medium is quite different from the approach to an existing - and we are all getting older... :) What I am trying to say, is that the difference you and others have stated about the approach towards the Internet and all included or herefrom evolved (forgive my English) communication-methods of yourself and your students may have something to do with the acceptance of the Internet as the "hype" VS. "just another medium"... BTW: God bless the C64! (...and my pity to those, who used an Atari - not to speak about the Spectrum) :) cu sam liban