Is "surfing the Internet" an outdated term? If so what's a more modern alternative?

Question

I think I don't hear the phrase "surfing the Internet anymore."

What's the common term nowadays? (e.g. in American English.)

Answer 1

According to this article published in Network World in 2009, it's ancient history.

Web Surfing When is the last time you heard someone talk about surfing the Web? You know the term is out of date when your kids don’t know what it means. To teens and tweens, the Internet and the World Wide Web are one and the same thing. So it’s better to use the term "browsing" the Web if you want to be understood. Or you can just say "Google" since everyone uses that term as a verb.

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Edit:

Actually by 2007, it was already sounding old - see dialogue at http://ask.metafilter.com/73205/Surfing-has-been-replaced-by-what

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