More on the Four "F"s - Part One: Fear
Fear (and lack of confidence) are 2 of the key problems people have when it comes to grappling with the online world. Never underestimate these factors - recently I had an email from a particularly unconfident learner, genuinely emailing me to say she didn't know how to email... As I described earlier, fear can not only prevent people going online, but it also leads to people going offline again: " Many users are put off continuing to use the internet because of fear. Thanks to telephone scams, hacks like the Talk Talk scandal , and reams of other news about the rise of cyber-crime, many conclude the internet is not for them any more. Fear of what may happen, or fear their computer has already been compromised and is no longer secure, is leading many of the less confident to put their laptop into a cupboard or the attic or just give it away. Some have actually been a victim of ID fraud, or attempted fraud once and decide they don't want to be again. For many, managi