Internet adoption unchanged over the past three years, study finds

[Shawn Knight]

A recent study from Pew Research Center found that 15 percent of adults in the US still don’t use the Internet. That’s unfathomable for many of us but what exactly is the cause?

Pew first began studying the social impact of technology in 2000. At that time, nearly half (48 percent, to be exact) of American adults did not use the Internet. That figure has climbed steadily since the turn of the century until 2012 when adoption began to level off.

Between 2012 and 2013, adoption only increased one percentage point. It has remained unchanged at 84 percent ever since, despite government and social service programs designed to boost adoption.

Analysis shows there are a number of factors that contribute to Internet non-adoption including age, household income, educational attainment, race / ethnicity and community type. Among those, senior citizens are most likely to avoid the web with four in 10 adults age 65 or older doing just that.

A third of adults with less than a high school education don’t use the Internet, a figure that scales down accordingly as the level of education increases. Data also reveals that a quarter of households earning less than $30,000 a year aren’t online.

In addition to those factors, we’re reaching a saturation point meaning everyone that’s interested in getting online (including those that can afford it financially) are already connected.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/61550-internet-adoption-unchanged-over-past-three-years-study.html

 

[MrSpock1701]

I'm surprised that the Pew article kind of glosses over the folks who aren't able to get anything better than dialup or very slow DSL (at exorbitant rates of course) simply because the infrastructure isn't in place. I certainly wouldn't use the web if I had to wait anywhere up to minutes for the average page to load. And, with copper lines breaking down over time (and ISPs refusing to fix them to push the users to go to wireless at more expensive prices), those people aren't being served worth squat.

 

[lripplinger]

I'm surprised that the Pew article kind of glosses over the folks who aren't able to get anything better than dialup or very slow DSL (at exorbitant rates of course) simply because the infrastructure isn't in place. I certainly wouldn't use the web if I had to wait anywhere up to minutes for the average page to load. And, with copper lines breaking down over time (and ISPs refusing to fix them to push the users to go to wireless at more expensive prices), those people aren't being served worth squat.

I agree. There are many places here in the U.S. alone that don't get squat for service. You either have dial up, really slow *** DSL on a crappy old *** copper lines, or no land line option at all. There are many folks who can only get satellite internet, which is horrible in its own right. Some people don't have internet because they may only have one option where they live, and it is way to expensive. That is what I find amusing about these useless reports. They are removed from the reality of the world.

 

[psycros]

Time to

I'm surprised that the Pew article kind of glosses over the folks who aren't able to get anything better than dialup or very slow DSL (at exorbitant rates of course) simply because the infrastructure isn't in place. I certainly wouldn't use the web if I had to wait anywhere up to minutes for the average page to load. And, with copper lines breaking down over time (and ISPs refusing to fix them to push the users to go to wireless at more expensive prices), those people aren't being served worth squat.

You couldn't be more dead on, and I speak from both work and personal experience. Its absurd, really..all of these journalists, bloggers and so on are lifelong urban dwellers. They have no concept of what life is like past where the concrete ends. You've got Google and other companies spending millions to get every mud hut in Africa onto the net - something they need SOOOO much more than clean water or protection from roving hordes of killers. Meanwhile 20% of American households have NO practical internet options whatsoever.