Surfing has been replaced by what?

October 6, 2007 3:20 PM

What has the phrase "surfing the web" been replaced by? Have expressed web activities become expressions of specific activities: 'I'm Googling', 'Goofing off on My Space', 'Metafiltering'? Or is there a more general phrase that I'm overlooking?
posted by PHINC to computers & internet (66 comments total)

"browsing the Internet".

or

any use of "online".

I'm going online.

I found this online.

Well, you can buy it cheap online...
posted by qwip at 3:26 PM on October 6, 2007

The only thing that comes immediately to mind is "I'm reading the Internet."
posted by cortex at 3:26 PM on October 6, 2007

I second 'browse'.
posted by Argyle at 3:29 PM on October 6, 2007

If I ask my girlfriend what's she doing, she'll say she's "looking online", "looking at the Web", "shopping" or "reading online". I guess it has become that much a part of life it's just like "looking" at a catalog or "reading" a magazine.
posted by wackybrit at 3:33 PM on October 6, 2007

I just logged on to my internet.
posted by fire&wings at 3:33 PM on October 6, 2007

I think a lot of the vocab has evolved to denote specific activities/sites. He commented me/my profile. I blogged it. I wikipedia'd it. I MySpaced/Facebooked her.
posted by sneakin at 3:38 PM on October 6, 2007

I guess it has become that much a part of life it's just like "looking" at a catalog or "reading" a magazine.

Exactly. While I doubt cutesy phrases are quite retired yet (a lot of people do seem to 'surf' still, for example), the novelty of using the internet has worn off and people are reverting to common utility verbs just like they do with most other everyday activities.

And that's another: "using the Internet", which is as straightforward and natural as it is boring.
posted by cortex at 3:40 PM on October 6, 2007

It could be argued that since our lives are so entwined with the Internet, we're never not on the Information Superhighway in some way.

Now there's food for thought.
posted by DMan at 3:40 PM on October 6, 2007

I guess I didn't get the memo, because I still surf. Not the net, not the web, not the tubes, not cyberspace or the information superhighway. It's just surfing. There is no risk of confusion, since I do not live in a coastal area and am not someone whom you would expect to find in a wetsuit. The routine part, in which daily-visit sites like MeFi get hit, is sometimes referred to as "making the rounds."

"What are you doing there, mumkin?"
"Nothing in particular. Just surfing."

I do Google things, but that's specific to searching. If it's general undirected consumption of content on the intarwebs, it's surfing.
posted by mumkin at 3:43 PM on October 6, 2007

Infosnacking.
posted by jayder at 3:47 PM on October 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

I still surf. (Too much...)
posted by wyzewoman at 3:53 PM on October 6, 2007

Gleaming the tubes.
posted by drezdn at 3:54 PM on October 6, 2007 [6 favorites]

At work I usually say that I'm "doin' stuff on the fancy thinkin' box".
At home I just say I'm going online.
posted by iconomy at 3:54 PM on October 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Like that Jayder!! That's a new one for me. I may steal it!!
posted by pearlybob at 3:55 PM on October 6, 2007

Go Stumble!
posted by kcm at 3:57 PM on October 6, 2007

I "check" the internet or I'm just "on" the internet.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 4:07 PM on October 6, 2007

I say surfing the tubes, myself.
posted by TypographicalError at 4:11 PM on October 6, 2007

"Admit it: You know all about the concept of infosnacking"
December 9, 2005
Atlanta Journal and Constitution

By Phil Kloer

... Webster's New World College Dictionary has anointed infosnacking as its 2005 Word of the Year, despite its near-total absence from everyday use. Has it been in The New York Times? Nope. On CNN? Apparently not. Popular slang? Have you ever heard it, or used it?

"It hasn't caught on yet," admitted Mike Agnes, editor in chief of Webster's. But the word of the year isn't about popularity, he explains; there aren't even any plans to add it to the dictionary.

"We try to choose a word that tickles our linguistic funny bone or is significant in the way language reflects culture," Agnes said.

Meanwhile, the New Oxford American Dictionary has its own word of the year and selected "podcasting." As of Thursday, "infosnacking" was getting 637 hits on Google, and "podcasting" was getting more than 35 million. So if it's a popularity contest, it's pretty clear who wins.

"We argue a lot" about choosing a word of the year, said Erin McKean, editor of the Oxford. "There's no hard-and-fast way of measuring this. We look for newness, usefulness, and what was going on in the world at the time."

Asked about infosnacking, McKean said she'd heard of it, but it was never under consideration by Oxford.

Infosnacking, by the way, means "checking e-mail, Googling sports scores, shopping online and surfing the latest headlines" while at work, according to Webster's.
posted by jayder at 4:11 PM on October 6, 2007

Looking at porn.
posted by Iron Rat at 4:13 PM on October 6, 2007

Thanks much! these responses are great.
posted by PHINC at 4:15 PM on October 6, 2007

In my house it gets called internetting As in 'are you internetting again?' But yeah, going online or using the internet are the general descriptions I'd use outside the house assuming I'm not describing a more specific activity (my main two at work would be 'literature searching' and 'using the wiki'). Even then I'm not sure I'd bother, it's more likely I'd tell someone I spend too much time playing with my computer than 'using the internet', because the two activities are generally considered to be the same.
posted by shelleycat at 4:18 PM on October 6, 2007

I didn't get the memo either; the only guy I know who eschews the expression is my friend Luke, an actual in-the-ocean surfer who's a mite peeved at the verb's misuse. Myself, I think of it as "jacking in" after reading any William Gibson.

I also liked the "Leaning Forward" idea that was going around for awhile, to contrast with the "leaning back" style of watching TV.
posted by Rash at 4:19 PM on October 6, 2007

Mettin' the filter
posted by davey_darling at 4:20 PM on October 6, 2007

I use "Summoning the Dark Lord who's name shall not be spoken to rain a storm of fire and blood over mine enemys"

Or "browsing the web" when I'm hurried.
posted by quin at 4:20 PM on October 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

For me it's pretty much just become 'online'. My roommate will call home and ask 'Are you online? Can you look up/find/etc...'.

The answer is almost always yes, it seems.

At work if someone asks, it's usually something smartass - 'communing with the magic voodoo box' is a favorite, but I'm an IT guy and am pretty much going to be close to a computer any time.
posted by pupdog at 4:23 PM on October 6, 2007

It's damn close to just plain "using the computer" these days, since the web must be about 90 percent of what new PCs are used for.

Of course, phones and PDAs and other internet devices will make that wrong soon, too.

This is what they mean by "ubiquitous computing", I guess.
posted by rokusan at 4:29 PM on October 6, 2007

I say I'm "checking my stuff", and that means looking at MetaFilter and AskMe, email, Flickr, the boxscores, and maybe a few friends blogs, all in one go.
posted by dirtdirt at 4:34 PM on October 6, 2007

I never used "surfing".

I'm either "checking my email" or "going online".
posted by Daily Alice at 4:38 PM on October 6, 2007

I'm either online or checking email.
posted by cmyk at 4:51 PM on October 6, 2007

I "play online". I'm not actually playing games but I'm not really doing anything purposeful either. There is very little actual work for me to accomplish online and the little bit that I do need to do has its own words--blogging or writing email.
posted by wallaby at 5:04 PM on October 6, 2007

I'm "reading the Internets" or "checking my sites."
posted by web-goddess at 5:05 PM on October 6, 2007

Screwing around is being online for my peeps. On the computer too but more negitive connotation.
posted by k8t at 5:32 PM on October 6, 2007

I "tool around" or "screw around" online. That, or I just AM online.
posted by messylissa at 5:32 PM on October 6, 2007

It's not an activity - it's a state. I am "on the internet", or not.

Did anyone ever really use "surf" in cold blood? Among my peers it was regarded as a term invented by outsiders with no clue, for use in print articles whose audience had even less clue. "Surf" would never leave our lips without a protective wrapping of hipster sarcasm, in the same way that my very nerdy colleagues and I will exclaim "my internets are broken!" when the office router craps out again.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:37 PM on October 6, 2007

I say "I'm on the internet" or "I'm internetting." If I find something just browsing, I say "I found it on the internet" rather than "I found it surfing the internet."
posted by lilac girl at 5:42 PM on October 6, 2007

"screwing around"
"wasting time"
"reading crap"
"looking at something stupid online"
"laughing at some idiot"
"reading this article"
posted by blacklite at 5:55 PM on October 6, 2007

it has not yet been sufficiently replaced
posted by caddis at 6:02 PM on October 6, 2007

I consume the Internet, personally.

In particular, there's a running gag of trying to finish off, only for there to be a lot more in my RSS feeder the next morning. It's like checking my inbox!
posted by RobotHeart at 6:06 PM on October 6, 2007

I check my pages, just like I check my channels on the tv.
posted by orangemiles at 6:32 PM on October 6, 2007

I also this surfing the web is still used quite often
posted by crewshell at 6:52 PM on October 6, 2007

Wow. I also THINK "surfing the web" is still used quite often
posted by crewshell at 6:52 PM on October 6, 2007

Heh....a conclusion can be drawn that rather than have a term for surfing the web, we should have a term for when you're NOT surfing--because that's the less often case.

Hey guys, I'm offline.
posted by DMan at 7:07 PM on October 6, 2007

My kids, age 8 & 6, have started saying "I'm in the net". I don't know where this came from or if they dreamed it up themselves but it is catching on around our house.
posted by bkeene12 at 7:37 PM on October 6, 2007

"I'm on the intermanet", a turn of phrase inspired by Homer Simpson, though I'm unsure that he ever used the word "intermanet" himself.
posted by goshling at 8:41 PM on October 6, 2007

I say I'm messing around online usually. I don't usually use some sort of noun-derived verb as far as I know.
posted by MadamM at 8:53 PM on October 6, 2007

"Poking around online." I'll second the "making the rounds" comment.

Really, it depends on who I'm talking to. If I talk to my friends who have similar habits as me, I'll use something more along the lines of "making the rounds," or "browsing around." If it's my mom, on the other hand, I'll be more explicit -- for her, "surfing the web," "browsing the web," or just "reading online articles" typically gets the point across.
posted by spiderskull at 9:21 PM on October 6, 2007

In my house it gets called internetting

In my house, it gets referred to as "playing computer." This is a resurfacing of the way I talked about any computer activity when I was 8 years old and my dad would take us to his "work" to play Dungeon and Monopoly on his DEC mainframe in 1978. "Dad, when can we go to your work and play computer?"

Outside my little home-world, I say "check my mail," when just wanting to spend 20 minutes doing my daily rounds, or "reading online"/"poking around online" when I want to talk about surfing.
posted by Miko at 9:39 PM on October 6, 2007

"What did you do all day?"
"Internet"
I think that means I'm using it as a noun-activity.
posted by unknowncommand at 9:40 PM on October 6, 2007

Usually I'd say 'browsing', or something along the lines of 'wasting time on the internet'. Despite experience dating back to Mosaic (and Cello), I've never adopted the 'surfing' terminology, which at least is better than anything referencing 'cyberspace'..
posted by unmake at 10:36 PM on October 6, 2007

"I'm internetting."
posted by chiababe at 10:52 PM on October 6, 2007

I always say "I'm Googling around," whether or not I'm actually using Google. Guess that they've really branded my internet experience, haven't they?
posted by k8lin at 11:14 PM on October 6, 2007

I sometimes say that I am "Grazing," especially if I'm just sort of faffing around.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 1:28 AM on October 7, 2007

And I think the faffing about is the key to surfing - clicking on wherever the links take you without a specific goal in mind. You can surf specific sites - wikipedia is great for this, and metafilter is a great starting point for surfing, but the term doesn't apply to any internet activity undertaken with a purpose except that of faffing about.
posted by goo at 1:36 AM on October 7, 2007

I will often say that I'm checking my email even though that amounts to less than 10 percent of the time I spend online.
posted by sveskemus at 5:27 AM on October 7, 2007

I just say "I'm online."
posted by limeonaire at 7:56 AM on October 7, 2007

Or, as a verb, "I'm going online."
posted by limeonaire at 7:56 AM on October 7, 2007

'Farting around on the internet/online' or 'Doodling.'
posted by AwkwardPause at 8:07 AM on October 7, 2007

Just "reading" or "reading online" since that pretty much represents 90% of what I do online.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 9:01 AM on October 7, 2007

Despite the inclusion of "infosnacking" in the Webster's New World College Dictionary, the term has almost no use whatsoever outside discussion of that dictionary, discussion of the word itself, or blatant attempts to spread the word. It was an absurd choice for word of the year and every lexicographer I know was scratching their head going, "WTF?"
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:53 AM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

"Surfing the net" has not been supplanted, at least in the major technology company for which I work. It's a major part of "slacking." There is no irony involved in using the term; it's just a thing you can do on a computer. The metaphor has long since been forgotten; it's practically the same thing as channel-surfing.

"Browsing" is more purposeful, surprisingly enough. Surfing is looking at random crap, whereas browsing is generally a specific site. You don't browse the Web, but you might browse Wikipedia, MeFi or TVTropes.

"Infosnacking" is pretentious wanking by the people who brought you Web 2.0.
posted by darksasami at 11:01 AM on October 7, 2007

"I AM NOW ENTERING CYBERSPACE."

No, not really. I say, "I'm just gonna check my email. I'll be a couple of minutes". And then no one sees me for the rest of the evening.
posted by hot soup girl at 12:21 PM on October 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

"Main screen turn on."
posted by Netzapper at 12:26 PM on October 7, 2007

"What did you do all day?"

"Internet"


Reminds me of a report I heard from Russia maybe nine years ago. In thickly accented English, the voice of a merchant said:

"Everybody want to buy computer.
 Everybody want make Internet."
posted by Rash at 4:03 PM on October 7, 2007

I agree with others that I still use the term "surfing the web" or "surfing the net"... Maybe it's not as outdated as you think?

Also, gotta agree with many others that "checking my mail" is actually a euphemism for me these days, involving not only checking my mail, but also logging onto facebook, checking my RSS feeds, reading an online comic or two and even checking AskMe for questions if I feel I can get away with it before the wife says "how long's it take to check your mail?! :)
posted by ranglin at 6:19 PM on October 7, 2007

I'm torn between :

Netzapper - "Main screen turn on"
AND
Iron Rat - "Looking at porn"

oh wait.. those 2 things happen sequentially ;P

Seriously though.. whenever anyone asks me, I usually say that i'm "playing on the computer"... which really means I'm surfing the internet, chatting with friends, checking email, listening to music, watching TV (in a window),etc,etc.
posted by jmnugent at 1:56 AM on October 8, 2007

I've been geeking out for years now.
posted by phredgreen at 6:33 AM on October 8, 2007