Pew Internet Survey: One third of the Americans surveyed do not use the internet even occassionally and one in five has never been online.


A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has reported that one third of Americans surveyed do not use the internet even occassionally and one in five Americans says he or she has never been online.

According to the survey, there is still a significant digital divide between those who use and don’t use the Internet, especially when it comes to race and income.

Some findings of the survey include:

About 70 percent of white Americans use the Internet, compared with 57 percent of African Americans.

There is an emerging new divide among those who have high-speed “broadband” Internet access and those who don’t.

Seventy-eight percent of those aged 70 and older do not use the internet. Less than half of the 60-69 group and less than a quarter of adults under 70 do not use the internet.

According to Susannah Fox, an associate director at Pew, “There’s always going to be a group of people who are nervous about it. They might read stories about viruses and spyware and feel like they don’t want to go online. Others say they are too busy or find access too difficult or expensive”.

The survey covered about 2000 adults and was conducted in May-June of 2005. It was a telephone-based survey.

 

 

 

 

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