Study: Digital divide is alive and well in the US

by Brad Linder May 18th 2008

You know that blank stare you got from your parents the first time you gave them your email address? Apparently you're not alone. According to a new survey from Park Associates, nearly one fifth of all heads of household in the US have never used email. And 20 million households are without internet access. That's about 18% of American households.Here are a few more fun facts:

Only 7 percent of those 20 million households plants to sign up for internet service within the next year.
Almost 33 % of heads of household have never created a document on a computer
Half of the folks who say they've never used email are over 65
More than half of those who haven't ever used email have no post-secondary education

The study did find some good news (if you count the fact that more and more people are spending their days in front of a computer screen good news). The number of "disconnected" households dropped from 29 percent in 2006.

[via CNET]

Tags: digital-divide, park-associates, study, survey

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rocketboy said 8:59PM on 5-18-2008

Ahh, the great media hype train that is the 'Digital Divide'. At least we've moved past the black vs white, or the rich vs poor aspect of this. Still, when it comes down to it, who cares. Some people are into computers/internet, some people are not. Who cares.

kingkool68 said 12:43PM on 5-19-2008

Funny none of my household's plants are connected to the Internet. They must be far behind the times.

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