The 'Net Isn't For Everyone

Not everyone is enamored of the Internet.

Relatively few female students, for example, post items to the various Harvard newsgroups, which are publicly accessible electronic bulletin boards. Of the 98 messages posted on the widely-read newsgroup "harvard.general" as of 9 p.m. last night, only three were put there by women.

Explanations for the discrepancy differ. Some say it is because students with interests in computer are overwhelmingly male. Others argue that the harsh nature of communication on the network--and particularly on the newsgroups--may turn off some female students.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Margo I. Seltzer '83 says the discrepancy may result from a cultural bias against women who pursue scientific interests. "This problem starts much sooner than high school and college," she says.

Seltzer says that just 20 percent of the 252 students enrolled in Computer Science 50, the introductory class she teaches, are female.

But computer experts say the network is too new a phenomenon at Harvard to interpret anything from discrepancies like those on "harvard.general," yet.

"I would doubt it," says Lewis A. Law, the former director of the Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS), when asked whether some women are uncomfortable on the network. "It's early days yet. Students have only really had access for the past year."

As the network becomes more popular, worries have grown about how the Internet affects those who use it. An official of one technology group on campus privately expresses fears that many users he knows are addicted to the network and spend so much time with their computers that they become anti-social.

Dr. Randolph Catlin Jr., chief of mental health services of the University Health Services, says he has not yet seen patients who have developed emotional problems as a result of network use, but expects that he will.

"I think we will see more of it," Catlin says, "It will be a problem in terms of people feeling more isolated and people not feeling part of a group because they spend all of their time talking to a machine."