For many Americans, going online is
an important way to connect with friends and family, shop, get news and search
for information. Yet today, 11% of U.S. adults do not use the internet,
according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data.
The size of this group has changed
little over the past three years, despite ongoing government and social service programs to
encourage internet adoption in underserved areas. But that 11% figure is
substantially lower than in 2000, when the Center first began to study the
social impact of technology. That year, nearly half (48%) of American adults
did not use the internet.
A 2013 Pew Research Center survey found some key reasons
that some people do not use the internet. A third of non-internet users (34%)
did not go online because they had no interest in doing so or did not think the
internet was relevant to their lives. Another 32% of non-users said the
internet was too difficult to use, including 8% of this group who said they
were “too old to learn.” Cost was also a barrier for some adults who were
offline – 19% cited the expense of internet service or owning a computer.
The Center’s latest analysis also
shows that internet non-adoption is correlated to a number
of demographic variables, including age, educational attainment, household
income and community type.
Seniors are the age group most
likely to say they never go online. Although the share of non-internet users
ages 65 and older decreased by 7 percentage points since 2016, about a third
today do not use the internet, compared with only 2% of 18- to 29-year-olds.
Household income and education are also indicators of a person’s likelihood to
be offline. Roughly one-in-three adults with less than a high school education
(35%) do not use the internet, but that share falls as the level of educational
attainment increases. Adults from households earning less than $30,000 a year
are far more likely than the most affluent adults to not use the internet (19%
vs. 2%).
Rural Americans are more than twice
as likely as those who live in urban or suburban settings to never use the
internet. And while there have been consistent racial and ethnic differences in
internet use since the Center first began measuring the activity, today,
whites, blacks and Hispanics are all equally likely to be offline. (There were
not enough Asian respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate
analysis.)
Despite some groups having
persistently lower rates of internet adoption, the vast majority of Americans are online. Over time, the offline population has
been shrinking, and for some groups that change has been especially dramatic.
For example, 86% of adults ages 65 and older did not go online in 2000; today
that figure has been reduced to 34%. Among those without a high school diploma,
the share not using the internet dropped from 81% to 35% in the same time
period.
Note: Methodology can be found here (PDF). This is an update of a post
originally published July 18, 2015. It has been updated to include new data.
Monica Anderson is a senior researcher focusing on internet
and technology at Pew Research Center.
Andrew
Perrin is a research analyst focusing on internet and technology at
Pew Research Center.
Jingjing
Jiang is research analyst focusing on internet and technology at Pew
Research Center.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/05/some-americans-dont-use-the-internet-who-are-they/?utm_content=bufferb0971&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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