Kris is a 25 year old single white male who lives alone in a duplex he rents in a racially integrated, working class to lower middle class neighborhood in northwest Philadelphia known as Overbrook. Kris has a bachelor's degree in secondary education and is employed full-time as a middle school algebra and pre-algebra teacher in the Philadelphia public school system. He uses the Internet in this job primarily for email.

Free Time: In his free time he watches television and movies and just "hangs out: with his friends. His favorite television shows include, The Simpson's, Law and Order, and Boston Public ("because it deals with school and I teach in an inner city school.").

Kris reports being part of a social network including approximately 20 people. He reports staying in contact with almost all of them on a regular basis via email, the telephone, and seeing them socially. Currently he writes letter or cards to about half of them and sees a few at meetings. Email has increased the number of his contacts.

"It is easier to get in contact with some people; it's easier and faster to write email than a letter.") While the quality of his contacts has remained the same ("we'd stay in touch anyway", Kris does not use instant messaging.

Internet: Kris has one computer at home, which is connected to the Internet via a high speed DSL modem. He also uses computers at the school where he works. He first used the Internet in 1995 at school.

Kris spends approximately five hours per week on various web sites, almost all of which are related to music or sports. His three most frequently accessed web sites are musiccity.com ("downloadable music"), cdnow.com ("buy music") and espn.com ("content information about sports, current events and scores"). He no longer purchases any CD's; instead, he downloads them for free from the Internet and he is "happy or excited: about the "free music." Last year Kris found websites that provide lesson plans for school. He felt "very clever or intelligent" when he used Google to obtain a "whole list of lesson plans" from which he could "pick and choose". He believes the extent of his Internet usage is similar to that of other people he knows.

Interviewer: Yvonne Shands