The Pew Internet and American Life Project, under the formation of the Pew Research Center, compiles data on various aspects of technology adoption in the US. Recent studies have examined tablet ownership, digital adoption among teenagers, and a host of other ways that computers and technology have become an incorporated part of daily life in America.
Now, Pew Internet released the findings of a study aimed at discovering how many US adults had access to the internet, and if so, how. While only 70% of adults have home broadband access, an additional 3% still have dial-up internet. Also, another 10% of adult who did not have broadband or dial-up access did own a smartphone and were able to access the internet in that way.
According to the organization, “The report also found that demographic groups with the highest rates of home broadband adoption continue to be college graduates, adults under age 50, and adults living in households earning at least $50,000, as well as whites and adults living in urban or suburban areas.”
This is only a fractional jump from a Census Bureau study in 2011 that found that, while 98% of Americans live within areas where broadband access is available, only 69% of households actually used it.
It’s interesting that Pew Internet found a correlation between smartphone use and internet access, one that actually goes against what logic would state. Rather than bridging the long-understood digital divide, smartphones in households that did not have broadband access actually widened the gap, according to Pew’s data charts that can be found by clicking HERE.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.