It's Official: The Net Is Part of Life
Majority surf as part of a routine, as we've learned to trust online sources.
Stuart J. Johnston, special to PC World
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
While the Internet's days of wild growth appear to be over, the majority of Americans accept it as an important tool in their daily lives, according to new findings in an ongoing study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
About 126 million Americans--or 63 percent of adults--use the Internet regularly, a number that has leveled off in the past two years, the study finds. However, more people today than ever before use the Web for serious business, such as shopping, paying bills, banking, conducting other transactions, and interacting with government agencies.
Much of this has come about because, counter to the cliche, familiarity breeds trust, suggest the Pew researchers.
"As people gain more experience online, they become much more comfortable trusting their money online," says Lee Rainie, project director. "Three-fourths of those 126 million users have three or more years of online experience [and] many of them have built the Internet into the fabric of their lives."
The report, titled "America's Online Pursuits: The changing picture of who's online and what they do," is based on comprehensive telephone surveys conducted from March 2000 through August 2003.
The project, which is wholly funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, began in March 2000--the same month the so-called Internet Bubble burst. Then, many pundits declared that the excitement and dazzle of the Web were gone.
Other Trends
Indeed, year-to-year growth in users has tapered off, but use of the Internet as a practical tool has deepened. The Internet's "killer app" was, and remains, e-mail, combined with browsing, say the researchers.
"Over time, users saw they could get information, interact with government, get products, and [gradually] they began to graduate to more serious uses," says Rainie, former managing editor of U.S. News & World Report.
One major reason for the change in user habits is the growing popularity of broadband connections in households across the country. This, in turn, feeds the trend toward more American homes having computers that are always online.
Having the computer and the Internet always available shifts their role to something more closely resembling a utility that can be used at the click of a mouse. It makes them more accessible than having to turn on the computer, wait for it to start up, and then wait to connect via a dial-up modem. "In 2000, hardly anybody had home broadband connections, but now 31 percent of home users do," Rainie says.
Another factor is that users' experience with the Internet has improved over that same period.
"At Christmas 2000, the press was full of stories of online retail disasters," Rainie says. Many online retailers had not yet learned hard lessons about customer support. Customers were often angry about not receiving what they'd ordered, and the retailers lacked systems for returns and credits. Customers also feared their credit card information would be stolen. For the most part, however, the companies that couldn't do a good job washed out and the surviving online retailers learned how to provide the levels of customer service that consumers demanded.
Room for Growth
It hasn't been positive for everyone, however. While nearly two-thirds of the U.S. adult population uses the Internet, a whopping 37 percent does not, the survey finds.
"That group largely [consists] of minorities, the poor, people with less education, people in rural areas, and the elderly," says Steve Jones, professor of communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Jones, who is past president and founder of the Association for Internet Research, is one of the project's senior fellows.
"People who are of college age and younger have really integrated the Internet into their own lives [to the point where] they can't do without it," Jones adds. That does not mean that those groups that use the Internet in lower numbers have been left out of the Internet usage trend entirely, though.
For instance, a large proportion of female Internet users seek health or religious information, while a large portion of African-Americans do research for school and seek religious and spiritual Information, the study states. Also, English-speaking Internet users of Hispanic descent report high levels of instant messaging and music downloading.
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