Can you function without the Internet?
(AJC: Jason Getz)
How relevant is the Internet? For a large group of Americans, the answer is not so much.
Sure, 78 percent of adults and 95 percent of teens go online regularly, but not all of us are embracing the online world, according to a new Pew Internet Project study.
Researchers say 20 percent of Americans don’t use the Internet. They include many senior citizens, adults with less than a high school education and those in households earning less than $30,000, where Internet access is less likely.
Nearly half of those who never go online say the main reason is that the Internet is irrelevant to them. “Those who do not use the Internet often do not feel any need to try it, some are wary of the technology, and others are unhappy about what they hear about the online world,” the report concluded.
To be sure, we’ve come a long way. In 1995, only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults were going online. Among other Pew findings:
• Email and search remain “the backbone” of Internet activity, with six in 10 adults doing both daily.
• 61 percent of adults online use the Internet for banking, and 65 percent use social networking sites.
• 88 percent of American adults now have a cell phone; up to 69 percent have a desktop computer; 57 percent have a laptop; 19 percent own an e-book reader; and 19 percent have a tablet computer.
• Both African Americans and English-speaking Latinos are as likely as whites to own any sort of mobile phone.
The Pew survey of 2,260 adults was conducted July 25 to Aug. 26, 2011 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Can you function without access to the Internet?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
26 comments Add your comment
jdl2
April 18th, 2012
11:28 am
Well lets see. 13% of the US population is 65 or older, but only 5% is 75 or older. Let;s take that number, 5%, likely not using the internet. OK, but who really cares? Now your 20% is down to 15 %, who you say are “adults with less than a high school education and those in households earning less than $30,000″.
So, I guess what this says is that the only people who actually are engaged on the internet are those who actually contribute to the growth of the economy, and who pay taxes to support those not internet-savvy.
Hope they didn’t spend a lot on the study.
Big Al
April 18th, 2012
1:26 pm
So this means that 20% of Americans don’t like porn?
Motocross Survivor
April 18th, 2012
1:34 pm
I’ve been using the Internet since 1995. I also have two laptops and a desktop–no need for the other junk. I don’t even have a cell phone now, much less a smart phone. Why would I want to surf the net while I’m out on a hike, or at some restaurant or whatever? The thing that kills me are mobile phones. MOST people seem completely addicted to the the things. It amazes me to no end. Not so long ago, people only had their home phone and public pay phones if they needed to make a call. But suddenly there is apparently a HUGE need to be dialing and yacking nonstop!! What gives? These morons have no idea they’be been hijacked and brainwashed by Madison Avenue.
GT Trumpet
April 18th, 2012
1:44 pm
I guess living in Atlanta makes you begin to assume everyone is always connected to the internet always because almost everyone has a laptop, smart phone, or at least a cell phone. I forget about the areas of this country that still barely have cell phone service.
20%
April 18th, 2012
1:46 pm
Boy do I wish that I was part of this 20%. Then, I wouldn’t have read this drivel passing as some A-HA! journalism story, which it is clearly NOT!
creative
April 18th, 2012
1:51 pm
I guess we will not have any input from the 20 percent.
Off the Grid
April 18th, 2012
1:57 pm
I applaud those that can still function without be constantly plugged in. In the next millenia, humans will have morphed into robots.
jd
April 18th, 2012
2:18 pm
I am getting tired of the internet. Half of my life has passed by why I was looking at a stupid PC monitor, and basically a recluse. I use it allot less these days.
Ivan Cohen
April 18th, 2012
2:21 pm
“But suddenly there is apparently a HUGE need to be dialing and yacking nonstop!!” What gives? I’ll tell you what gives, personnel in Research & Development are working around the clock to bring out this ever-changing technology. I believe they call it “job security.” About the nonstop yacking, your ears are playing tricks on you. That is not yacking, what is taking place are oral aerobics with the tongue.
Voice of Reason
April 18th, 2012
2:33 pm
What do the Amish have to say about this?
durtyturd
April 18th, 2012
2:35 pm
lol @ oral aerobics. The 20% will read this 10 years from now.
GAtor
April 18th, 2012
3:03 pm
I love the question at the end “Can you function without access to the Internet?”. How are the 20% supposed to answer this question?
jlslks
April 18th, 2012
3:06 pm
100 percent full agreement with Motorcross. The phones are so ANNOYING. I get so tired of watching people out and about doing things with other people, but they are not there. They are on their phones, at dinner, at soccer, biking, hiking, running, shopping, you name it, they are GLUED TO THEM. I cannot wait for it all to crash. Maybe we’ll be able to have conversations again. I too am no longer a cell phone user. It seems all the people who “used to smoke” put down cigarettes and picked up cell phones.
JJ
April 18th, 2012
3:37 pm
I don’t do internet on weekends. I stay far, far away from technology when I’m not working.
JJ
April 18th, 2012
3:38 pm
And I believe cell phones have made us a VERY rude society….
Eric
April 18th, 2012
4:09 pm
I probably could do without the internet, however, I do not want to. I do ALL of my shopping online, I no longer have to stand in line behind some idiot with 42 items at the 12 item lane. I am a full time student and I take 100% of my classes online, I no longer have to sit in class and listen to the idiots who haven’t paid attention for the last 8 weeks. I do not use my cell phone as much because email is best, I can do it when it suits me, on my schedule. At work, I spend 6 of my 8 hours working through internet based technology, without it I couldn’t do my job efficiently. I do NOT do social networking, I don’t feel the need to let everyone know I just took a crap.
The internet is an amazing tool if you use it properly. But you do have to take time to disconnect and relax, otherwise it can feel overwhelming. The internet, and cell phones, are never going away. You might as well get used to the fact that our lives are becoming more entrenched in technology. If you are not embracing it, you will find yourself standing outside society, most likely with no job and no reliable source of income. So either get on the bus, or get out of the way.
beebee
April 18th, 2012
4:21 pm
Just one thing: WOMEN, PLEASE stop yakking trying to drive 80 mph during rush hour, morning and evening. Just STOP it please. NOTHING is so important that you need to have the phone glued to your ear during morning and evening rush hour. PLEASE stop before you cause horrible wrecks!
woodrow
April 18th, 2012
4:38 pm
The Internet is a massive information source. It’s hard to imagine not finding something ‘relevant’. This is the ‘Information Age’. It is the most disruptive change of the last 100 years.
roy stone
April 18th, 2012
5:20 pm
What does the “……are as likely as whites to own any sort of mobile phone” imply ? Such comments negate the validity of the whole study.
ironic
April 18th, 2012
5:34 pm
I never use the Internet
MrLiberty
April 18th, 2012
5:40 pm
Without the internet I would have to rely on the state run/state controlled media for my news. One only needs to look at the presidential race, everything that comes out of the president’s mouth, the lies about the Iraq war leadup, the lies about the Iran war leadup, everything coming out of Afghanistan, the coverage of the gun running scandal that the Attorney General orchestrated, etc. etc. etc. to know that you cannot get reliable information from the US media (including the AJC) and MUST rely on foreign sources, independent media outlets, etc. Without the internet, there would be no way of knowing the truth.
statistics are fun!
April 18th, 2012
5:50 pm
Roy, the “… are as likely as whites…” comment merely implies that, of the sample taken, the percentage of hispanic or black persons who owned mobile phones was significantly similar to (within a close percentage of) the percentage of the white persons who owned mobile phones.
This does not negate their findings, only adds a detail to better state “it’s not just white people who own the cell phones.”
Many people think that only certain races, or only certain income levels have the mobile phone priviledges. The Pew research group appears to have broken the information obtained by random survey down by both income and race to see if there was a difference in cell phone ownership by varying income level, education, and by race. The “it varies by race” hypothesis was apparently not supported by this study.
I would be interested to know if they broke it down by gender. I believe that more women now, than in 1995, use the internet. I also believe that it is likely that more women own cell phones now than males.
Also it scares the heck out of me when I see someone driving with their ears glued to the phone yacking away or even (god-forbid) texting. Then again, I see more women putting on mascara or lipstick – not looking at the road at all, some with no hands on the wheel – than I see people texting while driving.
I am not sexist, just a woman.
JohnSmith
April 18th, 2012
5:52 pm
The sad thing is the people who depend on the internet for their social life (this is really pathetic).
JohnF
April 18th, 2012
6:11 pm
Geez, I don’t know…I don’t really use it for news or social interaction (anymore anyway)..but if I want a recipe I go to the internet..if I need to find a doctor or clinic, I go to the internet..if I want to find a particular shoe, shirt, gift, odd gas oven part..I go to the internet. Of course it has it’s down sides..if I have some physical symptom that bothers me I go to the internet..and there I find that I may have an allergy or possibly some potentially fatal disease. It’s a wealth of information and cesspool of mis-information, but I”m on it now aren’t I?
Patrick
April 18th, 2012
6:13 pm
I probably could, but it would take a while for me to get over the DT’s.
Back in 2005, I did go without Internet for about 3 or 4 months. My phone had been disconnected, and two weeks later, I lost my DSL. The first week or two without Internet were agonizing. I would find myself sitting down at the computer, wanting to go into a chat room I helped run at the time, only to remember I no longer had the Internet.
After a couple of weeks, I found I didn’t miss it all that much. I soon began finding things to do around the house, and actually got more done without the Internet than I would have with it. I painted a couple of rooms in the house, built some shelves in the bathroom closet (it had shelves, but made it difficult to access the electrical panel, which was still an old fuse box), and did a couple of other things around the house.
If I went offline now, it might take me longer to get over it, since I use it more now than I did 7 years ago. I go on more message boards than I did back then. I use Facebook. I go to YouTube a lot. I check the AJC and a couple of other news sites. I get a lot of comic strips in my e-mail. It would probably take me about two to three months to get over the DT’s.
deep thoughts
April 18th, 2012
6:38 pm
being an online reader…. i recently discovered something….
how many of you read the AJC paper (yes, the printed)? recently, it was brought to my attention that the real articles are still ONLY printed… and the online is merely sensationalism. so, maybe these people have a secret we all missed while updating facebook.