Proceeding from the understanding that the Internet is more than just new information and communication technology, since its development embodies, reproduces, and sustains forms of social organization spread through the entire social structure, the article critically discusses the idea that it is the Internet (or the digital communication technology in general) that first blurred the boundaries between passive consumption and active production in communication. The critique of that thesis is rooted in the absence of a thorough analysis of (1) historical predecessors of the Internet and (2) social-political consequences of the Internet for the individual and society. A draft analysis in both dimensions indicates that the Internet has no primacy in blurring the boundary between production and consumption in communication, nor does it bring about incontestably favorable social consequences.
