If the uses and gratifications theory is to be applied, it is important to see for what reason people first used the Internet. While being university-educated appears to be a significant characteristic of Internet users according the various marketing studies, in the case of Berkeley the propensity to use the Internet has very little to do with any overt influence by the University to make its students go on-line. Of the 204 respondents, nearly half said they never needed to use the Internet for classes. Nor was it the influence of jobs and high school classes that first got people to use the Internet, what with 87% and 94%, respectively, never needing to use the Internet for them.
The most pervasive influence that inspired people to first use the Internet was that of friends, with 73% saying they first used the Internet to keep in touch with them. Most people said that "most" of their friends used the Internet [72%], with 27% reporting that "a few" of them do. [Only 1% reported that none of their friends used the Internet].21 Keeping in touch was also at issue with the second most compelling influence to use the Internet, to keep in touch with family. 23% said they first used the Internet for that purpose.22 [The influence of family was less pivotal, however, in that while only 23.4% said they first used the Internet for that purpose, 51% said that members of their family used the Internet.]
Even amongst the users there were differences to how entrenched the Internet had become in their lives. Question 27 asked how their lives would be affected if the Internet disappeared tomorrow. For a few the result would be devastating because their lives [academic disciplines, jobs, etc.] were dependent on the Internet. However, most of the responses were blasé ranging anywhere from "no effect" to acknowledging a minor inconvenience but finding it not too serious. The biggest inconvenience mentioned came from the loss of email, which fits the tendency to use the Internet for inter-personal communication. People said they would either lose touch with friends and family if they couldn't keep in contact with them cheaply and easily with the Internet or they would have to stay in touch by running up a higher phone bill.23
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