Americans Use The Internet Differently
from the not-a-homogeneous-population dept
While studies like to talk about aggregate results for the "online US population" a new Pew study shows that internet usage around the US is very different. It appears that the midwest and the south have noticeably lower rates of internet usage than the coasts. Furthermore, for those who were online, what they did with their internet access was often very different, depending on where they were in the country. On the coasts, people tended to stay online longer and do more "advanced" activities like online shopping. In the middle of the country there was less usage - but it was more focused on communicating with friends. Of course, a lot of the activity could also be described along education and income level as well - suggesting the digital divide isn't such a myth after all. There were some consistencies: everyone used email and surfed eBay, for example. Of course, I don't think much of this should be a surprise to anyone - nor do I think it's bad in any way. It just shows that the internet has many different uses, and lots of people use it to suit their own needs.
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No Subject Given
' "advanced" activities like online shopping '
LOL, I like that. What does that comment say about the author of the article or even society as a whole?
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I didn't mean that it was "technically" more advanced or anything like that, but in the order people do things online, that usually comes later.
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Judging by the e-mail I receive from my on-line relatives, I would conclude that folks in the Midwest only use the Internet to send chain letters.
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What if some people do fine without the net?
It could be that there will be a digitial divide, but the people on the other side choose to be there, and do not suffer much.
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