Surveys Scrutinize How We Surf

A couple of recent studies are watching the trends of an increasingly wired nation.

"A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet" is based on the September 2001 U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. It measures the sheer numbers of Americans going online, and general household statistics such as the ages and income of those surfers.

Separately, the Pew Internet & American Life Project is tracking 1501 Internet users, interviewing them from one year to the next. Together, the studies present a snapshot of how Americans are increasingly building Web access and technological tools into their routines of daily life.

Half the Nation Wired

"A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet" was assembled by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Economics and Statistics Administration. That study finds:

• More than 2 million new users monthly begin surfing the Internet in the United States, with more than half of the nation now online. In September of last year, 143 million U.S. residents, or about 54 percent of the population, used the Internet for an increase of 26 million in 13 months. The study found that in the same month there were 174 million people, or 66 percent of the U.S. population, using computers.
  
  
• Ninety percent of children between ages 5 and 17, or 48 million, use computers. Seventy-five percent of 14- to 17-year-olds and 65 percent of 10- to 13-year-olds use the Net.
  
  
• Family households with youngsters under 18 are more likely to use the Net compared with those having no children and households composed of people who are not family members. Sixty-two percent of households with children under 18 reported accessing the Net, as opposed to 53 percent with no children and 35 percent of nonfamily households.
  
  
• Internet use increased at a 25 percent annual growth rate for families earning less than $15,000 annually, while use among those earning $75,000 annually or more rose from a higher beginning base, but at a slower 11 percent annual rate.
  
  
• From August 2000 to September 2001, Net use among blacks and Hispanics rose at annual rates of 33 percent and 30 percent, respectively, with growth rates of 20 percent annually for whites, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders during the same period.
  
  
• Use of the Internet among those who live in rural areas is now at 53 percent, almost at the national average of 54 percent.
  
  
• The highest rate of growth, at 29 percent, is among households of single mothers with children.
  
  
• Of those surveyed in September 2001, 20 percent of the individuals using the Internet at home said they accessed it via broadband service, compared with 5 percent in August of the previous year.
  
  

The Web Goes to Work

The Pew report, titled "Getting Serious Online," is identifying the changing ways people use online technology. Its most recent study finds:

• Users were more likely in 2001 to use the Web at work or for work-related research than they were in the previous year. Forty-four percent who have access at work say the Net helps them with their jobs. Pew's ongoing monthly tracking poll found in January 2002 that some 55 million people go online for work, up from 43 million in March 2000.
  
  
• Internet users are more likely to spend time working at home (though some would argue this is not a positive trend). Fourteen percent of those surveyed said they spend more time working at home, while 5 percent said working at home has declined. Veteran Internet users are more likely to report that they work at home more as a consequence of having Internet access.
  
  
• While just 6 percent of respondents said Internet use means they spend less time commuting to work, about 3 million of the 10 million Net veterans who say they work more at home now report that they spend less time commuting in traffic.
  
  
• E-mail use continues to rise, with 84 percent of those surveyed saying they use that means to stay in touch with family and 80 percent saying they stay in touch with friends. Both of those figures are up slightly from a year before. As for increases in specific ways of using e-mail, Internet users surveyed reported a 70 percent increase in e-mailing family members for advice and a 63 percent jump in sending e-mail to family members expressing worries. Similar rises were found in the willingness of Net users to write such e-mail to friends.
  
  
• As users become more accustomed to having the Internet as part of their daily lives, they also are less likely to sing its praises as a social tool. In 2000, the survey found that 88 percent of users find the Internet is "very useful" or "somewhat useful" for keeping in touch with family, while in March 2001, that figure dropped to 79 percent, with respondents also saying that they are sending less e-mail to key people in their lives. About half of all Internet users e-mail family and friends weekly.
  
  
• After using the Internet for a while, people are more likely to have made purchases; to have handled banking transactions; to have participated in online auctions, stock sales, and stock purchases; and to have made travel reservations. Those who have ever bought anything online rose 45 percent from 2000 to 2001, from 40 million to 58 million. Travel services purchases rose 59 percent, from 29 million to 46 million. Participation in online banking and online auctions rose from 79 percent to 83 percent of respondents, year over year.