Comments on internet usage

The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently released a report on Online Activities & Pursuits. The finding indicates that social networking is rapidly becoming a more adult activity. The researchers found that the share of adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% now. Now being December 2008. Overall, the number of adults in the U.S. who are online is approaching saturation.

However, the number of users is still greatly skewed to the young, with 75% of adults 18-24 using these networks, compared to just 7% of adults 65 and older. Most, but not all adult social network users are privacy conscious; 60% of adult social network users restrict access to their profiles so that only their friends can see it, and 58% of adult social network users restrict access to certain content within their profile.

The use of social network Websites, roughly follows the overall demographics of Internet use. The most interesting statistic indicates that from 94 to 95% of people with advanced college degrees and who make more than $75,000 a year are Internet users. The lowest level of usage is in those over 65 years of age.

E-mail usage at 91% tops the list of Internet activities, while reading blogs, like this one, is way down on the list at 32%. 72% of Internet users go online every day. But only 10% of blog readers read blogs every day.

I was not surprised to learn that the U.S. population is almost entire addicted to computer games. Over half of American adults, 53%, play video games, and four out of five young adults play games. Among adults, computers are the most popular gaming device, but among young adults gaming consoles are the preferred device for game play. And virtual worlds only draw a small crowd. However, among older adults 65+ who play video games, nearly a third play games everyday, a significantly larger percentage than all younger players, of whom about 20% play everyday.

In the 1960s the young were told that they should drop out of the mainstream and do their own thing. It looks like the present generation is dropping out but staying plugged in to games and the Internet.