single word requests - What do you call a person who is always online on the Internet?


Is there any specific word for a person who is always online on the Internet?


I am just curious to know because staying online is like a profession nowadays.



Answer



I'd say the word is nethead - an enthusiastic/obsessive user of the Internet*.


I do recognise the alternative netizen, but for me at least that implies much about a person's attitudes to, and active participation in, the emerging global society embodied in the Internet.


My 84-year-old mother, for example, is online for many hours every day playing "solo" online games. She almost never uses the Net for interactive communication in any form (maybe 3 emails a year), so whilst I would call her a nethead, I would not call her a netizen.


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