Pew Internet Project Study on Internet Non-Users

cheezitmike writes "The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a new study on the digital divide and the declining growth of the Internet: "Pew Internet Project tracking data show a flattening of the overall growth of the Internet population since late 2001. Internet penetration rates have hovered between 57% and 61% since October 2001, rather than pursuing the steady climb that they had showed in prior years." You can also just read their short summary of findings or stories about the study in The Washington Post and The New York Times (free reg.)."

Comments

Correlation

[Ravenscall]

I find it interesting that this rate directly coincides with the American Economy decicing to take a nice little plunge in the toilet from around the same time.

Most people view the internet, or even a computer, as a luxury item, and therefore, the monthly access fee will be one of the first things cut when times get tight.

As for lack of new growth, for most people, a PC is still a multi hundred dollar investment, and if you are not sure you are not going to have a job next week, most people will not make the investment.

Proud to be a Net Evader

[NetDanzr]

It may be strange that I'm replying to a post on Slashdot and still calling myself a "Net Evader". However, in a sense, I am. I have no Internet connection at home, nor do I want to have one. The 10-12 hours at work of Internet are enough for me.

There's a whole number of reasons why I decided to be a Net Evader, some of them mentioned in the articles:

• I am very concerned about my privacy. I'm not a computer guru, and the farthest I can go is to install ZoneAlarm on my PC. With all those privacy violations taking place, I prefer to keep my PC disconnected from the Net.
• I am afraid that Internet would take over my life. I am very happy with sitting at the fireplace in the evenings and reading a book. Or cooking a big lunch on Saturdays. Or hiking. Or a number of other activities. Internet is just too tempting to have around.
• Take a closer look at your mail for the next few weeks. I can bet you that 95% of your mail consists of catalogs, spam and bills. The remaining 5% was addressed to someone else. Do you know how uplifting it is to receive a hand-written letter? Several pages of writing, enough to make the post stamp and trip to the post office worth it? Try it sometimes...
• I'm not accessible. Having no e-mail at home and no cell phone, I can actually rest over the weekends, because people who need my help can't contact me. Actually, let me rephrase that: only people who are desperate will be able to contact me. Those who are lazy to do something will find it difficult enough to contact me to actually try a solution themselves.

RTFA

[robbyjo]

The study shows:

• Net Evaders: 20% (non-Internet users live with someone who uses the Internet from home).
• Net Dropouts: 17% of non-Internet users were once users. (Most of them are dropouts because of technical problems)
• Truly Disconnected: Some 24% of Americans are truly offline
• Most non-users live physically and socially close to the Internet
• 60% of non-users know of a place in their community where Internet access is publicly available, while 76% of Internet users know of public access site.
• Younger Americans are much more wired than older Americans. Well-to-do Americans are more wired that less well-off Americans, and the employed are far more wired than the unemployed.
• Some 56% of non-Internet users do not think they will ever go online. These people are generally the poorer, older segment of the not-online population, and are more likely to be white, female, retired and living in rural areas.
• And so forth...

Not the bubble burst per se. Apparently, lots of social factors come into play, which I think were not into the equation on the prediction years ago.

Internet penetration rates are around 57%

[Rassleholic]

The rest are using AOL

New Ask Slashdot

[Limburgher]

Any Non-Internet users on /.? How do you feel about the new Pew study? Post your responses below.

Re:What a Revelation...

[Tackhead]

> "Well-to-do families are more likely to have access than less well-off families." Who would have guessed....

Yeah. Next thing you know, they'll be saying that less well-off families who put $200 into a computer and $20/month into dialup (as opposed to $200 on Air Jordans and $20/month on ESPN), tend to become better off.

I was the first one in my family to go to University. I make twice what my parents make at half their age.

No, my family wasn't dirt-poor, but we weren't rich. I could never have gone to Harvard. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I found out that my folks had to take out a frickin' loan to get me that Apple ][ that I begged for, and that got me started.

As a result of high school hacking with that box, I never lacked for summer jobs during my college years, and I was able to graduate debt-free and land myself a good job that started off a great career.

Over 20-odd years, my folks' original investment has cranked out the kind of ROI that investment managers have wet dreams about. (I wrote that has hyperbole, but then worked it out based on the cost of the machine and the income my career has generated. My parents' ROI cleans Warren Buffet's clock)