Americans can't live without high-speed Internet, or e-mail

[Emil]

Adults agree that the expansion of high-speed Internet has had the greatest technological impact on society over the past decade. A Zogby International interactive survey polled 1,950 adults from December 8 to December 10, 2010 to ask them what technology they found to have made the biggest difference in their lives.

High-speed Internet came in first place at 24 percent, followed close behind by Facebook at 22 percent, and Google settled for third place with 10 percent. Men and those over 55 said high-speed Internet has had the greatest impact on society while women and adults under the age of 55 found Facebook had the most impact. Of the technologies most said they cannot live without, high-speed Internet came in first at 28 percent, e-mail was second at 18 percent, while Facebook only grabbed 3 percent among all adults. 15 percent of young adults (aged 18-24), however, said they cannot live without Facebook.

24 percent of Americans believe the greatest technological advancement for the next year will be in home entertainment while only 16 percent believe it will be in general computing. In the next decade (by the year 2020), the following will take place:

• 43 percent of Americans believe we will see regular use of stem cells and cloning techniques to create human organs for transplant
• 40 percent of Americans believe we will see computer chips implanted in people to monitor their health
• 40 percent of Americans believe we will see robots capable of performing manual labor jobs
• 36 percent of Americans believe we will see virtual reality incorporated into home entertainment

Zogby International said slight weights were added to region, party, age, race, religion, gender, and education to more accurately reflect the overall US population. The data was given a margin of error of +/- 2.3 percentage points.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/41711-americans-cant-live-without-high-speed-internet-or-e-mail.html

 

[Benny26]

I'm sure they could live without that stuff if they tried. Besides, these surveys are complete shash...2000 people in a country with more than 300 million. Not very reliable is it.

 

[Emil]

Benny26 said:
I'm sure they could live without that stuff if they tried. Besides, these surveys are complete shash...2000 people in a country with more than 300 million. Not very reliable is it.

If you've ever taken a statistics class you'll know that's how it works.

 

[matrix86]

Benny26 said:
I'm sure they could live without that stuff if they tried. Besides, these surveys are complete shash...2000 people in a country with more than 300 million. Not very reliable is it.

Agreed.

43 percent of Americans believe we will see regular use of stem cells and cloning techniques to create human organs for transplant

That would be pretty cool

40 percent of Americans believe we will see computer chips implanted in people to monitor their health

I'll pass on this one

40 percent of Americans believe we will see robots capable of performing manual labor jobs

Isn't that the whole purpose of having children? That's what my parents always told me, lol. But would still be pretty cool.

36 percent of Americans believe we will see virtual reality incorporated into home entertainment

Heck yes!

15 percent of young adults (aged 18-24), however, said they cannot live without Facebook.

So...if I killed facebook, then these people would also die...correct? *evil laughter*

 

[Benny26]

If you've ever taken a statistics class you'll know that's how it works.

:haha: People actually go to "statistics classes"...Well, kudos to them then.

C'mon, asking less than 0.1 percent of countrys population "this or that", and then applying it to the entire country is just ludicrous in my view.

 

[mkennedy823]

wait.. we have high speed internet in America ? since when ?

 

[princeton]

Benny26 said:
I'm sure they could live without that stuff if they tried. Besides, these surveys are complete shash...2000 people in a country with more than 300 million. Not very reliable is it.

It's called a sample survey. Do you expect them to do a census survey and ask everyone in the US?

 

[Leeky]

Of the technologies most said they cannot live without, high-speed Internet came in first at 28 percent, e-mail was second at 18 percent,

I can't live without either of these, it frankly does my cheese crackers in if I can't access my email, or internet on my pc, laptop or mobile phone.

I always knew I should have been American! :haha:

 

[Benny26]

It's called a sample survey. Do you expect them to do a census survey and ask everyone in the US?

I'd expect a little more than %0.1 of the population, and more than 2 days worth of data before i see lines like "26 percent of American's....".

More like a lazy misleading survey, than a sample one.

 

[Guest]

What is it high-speed broadband in US? Is it same like in Lithuania?

 

[Guest]

speedtest.net/result/1082667023.png

 

[Guest]

High speed Internet, yeah I would have severe withdrawals if my daily life didn't have it, but as for email and Facebook. I can do without both. Email is only important to me for order confirmations and while I'm on Facebook, I find it to be the most useless thing ever run across online by me. I only got on Facebook to locate an old friend from work who had moved and lost touch with. Other than that it's pointless to tell every time you fart or take a crap. I guess self absorbtion is not one of my faults. Merry Christmas All!

 

[Burty117]

Wait a minute, 15% cannot live without facebook?! you HAVE to be joking?...Right?

I mean, people who are obsessed with Facebook are pretty sad in the first place that they HAVE to know what everyones status's are. But to actually come up with "I cannot live in this world without facebook"
Is one of the most horrific sentences I have read in the past decade.

 

[mailpup]

Take the statement reflected in the title of the article for what it is: Hyperbole. Of course, people can actually live without it. It's an exaggeration phrased that way for eye catching dramatic effect. I wouldn't be surprised if the careless wording of the survey had something to do with way the outcome sounds.

Just like this: "...Is one of the most horrific sentences I have read in the past decade." Really? Certainly an example of more hyperbole IMHO.

 

[Burty117]

mailpup said:
Take the statement reflected in the title of the article for what it is: Hyperbole. Of course, people can actually live without it. It's an exaggeration phrased that way for eye catching dramatic effect. I wouldn't be surprised if the careless wording of the survey had something to do with way the outcome sounds.

Just like this: "...Is one of the most horrific sentences I have read in the past decade." Really? Certainly an example of more hyperbole IMHO.

ooww come on! Its only facebook, i'm just absolutely amazed that real human beings actually answered the survey "cannot live without facebook".

Isn't that a sign of some sort to the inteligence level of some people?

 

[mailpup]

Isn't that a sign of some sort to the inteligence level of some people?

You could be right but I don't really take these kinds of surveys too seriously nor do I try to read to much into them or the people who respond. That's just me though. Don't get me wrong. They can be interesting and they do create some discussion but, in a manner of speaking, I don't get too excited about them.

 

[matrix86]

mailpup said:
Take the statement reflected in the title of the article for what it is: Hyperbole. Of course, people can actually live without it. It's an exaggeration phrased that way for eye catching dramatic effect. I wouldn't be surprised if the careless wording of the survey had something to do with way the outcome sounds.

......I don't even know how to respond to this, lol. I can't even...I just...I don't even know how to express it. All I can really say is, "dude, you're taking this a little too literal." I know people who have gone to very prestigious colleges who don't take things as seriously as you took this wording....have you been hiding in your mother's basement all these years? Lol

 

[mailpup]

In what way am I taking this too literally? I don't quite follow. How do you take it then?

 

[matrix86]

You went into a lecture on the title about how people actually can live without it saying it's for dramatic effect......DUH! We know that. Not sure why you felt the need to go on a tangent about the title. Took it a little too serious there, my friend, lol.

 

[mailpup]

I was merely responding to Burty117's post (post #13) just above me. In retrospect maybe it wasn't done clearly enough but Burty117 seemed to understand that because of his response. In that context I was only kidding around with him. Notice in my followup (post #16) I actually said I didn't take it seriously.

 

[gobbybobby]

Hi speed broadband is what 2 meg? 5 Meg? 10 Meg? 50Meg? 100meg+

Define :''hi speed''

According to the UK government hi speed is 2 Meg. Whats it in America?

 

[example1013]

Benny26 said:

It's called a sample survey. Do you expect them to do a census survey and ask everyone in the US?

I'd expect a little more than %0.1 of the population, and more than 2 days worth of data before i see lines like "26 percent of American's....".

More like a lazy misleading survey, than a sample one.

If they did it properly, this survey of 2000 people is more accurate than a census of all 300 million would be.

If you'd actually taken a statistics class, as stated before, you wouldn't be making such ignorant statements.

I can't say that, in fact, this particular survey is actually in any way accurate, but I can say that it's completely possible to get good info from that small a portion of the population.

 

[Benny26]

If they did it properly, this survey of 2000 people is more accurate than a census of all 300 million would be.

Ok so, "28% of American's can't live without high speed internet" based on 2000 people is more accurate than another survey that would include the entire population.

That's just complete BS, and it's factually wrong. Why? because there's a keyword in there-----"American's" (you know, there's about 300 million of them with a voice of their own)
So how the hell can 2000 "American's" better represent the full 300,000,000?...Oh, i'd really love to know how you work that one out?

If you'd actually taken a statistics class, as stated before, you wouldn't be making such ignorant statements.

AND if you'd actually taken a look at an earlier post of mine, you'd also know that i have the upmost respect to anyone who manages to make it through one of these "classes", without obviously needing a lobotomy at the end (as in my case)...Besides, who doesn't like to be "ignorant"?

I can't say that, in fact, this particular survey is actually in any way accurate, but I can say that it's completely possible to get good info from that small a portion of the population.

Hmmm...I think i actually agree with you here. Yes, good info can be obtained from small surveys, the only bones i have with this one is i think it can easy be misleading to some people and i find it lazy (which is why it's misleading).

Also, people who didn't have the internet can obviously live without high speed internet, but they couldn't register their opinion with this survey because it was an ONLINE survey...This is the what i find misleading about the survey.