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Four reasons why American media should lowercase 'Internet'

When the style desks of The New York Times and the Associated Press finally issue a press release about the need to start lowercasing Internet, we will know that America has finally woken up to web-based reality.

We don’t capitalize words like radio or television or motion pictures anymore, do we? Regarding the Internet, we are still behind the curve, behind the British, lost in capitalization land. We need to play catch up. Now.

Here are four reasons to lowercase “Internet”:

3. The Internet isn't new anymore. It's part of everyday life, like breathing.

  • By Dan Bloom

The Internet is here to stay. It's not just another soon-to-be-outdated technological advancement (think compact discs.) Whether on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, or computers, the Internet – no matter how access to it evolves – is now part of the majority of Americans’ lives.

According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life project (the people there don’t capitalize Internet, by the way), 79 percent of American adults use the Internet. And folks aren’t just watching YouTube videos and sending emails. Internet usage dominates everything from political participation to romance to commerce.

Pew reports that the majority of US adults used the Internet for political purposes in the 2010 election cycle. As of January 2012, 61 percent of American adults get their news from the Internet, which surpasses radio, local newspapers, and national newspapers as a news platform. Nearly two-thirds of Americans go online to research products and services they are thinking about buying.

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