For Lackluster Veterans, the thrill of information technology is gone – if it was ever there to begin with. And they have had ample time to come to this conclusion. The members of this fortyish group of mostly men came online in the mid-1990s, and they have acquired the laptop computer and broadband connection along the way to becoming frequent users of the internet.

But their habits of connectivity seem to have the weight of necessity more than a full-hearted embrace of information technology’s affordances. Only a few Lackluster Veterans like how information technology makes them more available to others, and not many think it adds to their personal productivity. Doing without email or a cell phone would be hard for only some of these men. All in all, Lackluster Veterans seem content with surfing the Web or emailing family and friends, but they do not show great inclination to stretch their technology habits to self-expression or mobile media.