The Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau surveyed approximately
57,000 households containing more than 137,000 individuals in all 50 states
and the District of Columbia and found a rapid diffusion of these technologies.[1]At
the time of the survey, September 2001,
Figure 1-1:
Percent of U.S. Households with a Computer and Internet Connections,
Source:
NTIA and ESA, U.S. Department of Commerce, using U.S. Census Bureau Current
Population Survey Supplements
On an individual
(rather than household) basis, as of September 2001 two-thirds
(66.8 percent) of the people in the United States used a computer at home,
school and/or work.The vast majority
of those who used computers (80.6 percent) were also connecting to the
Internet.These two factors taken
together contributed to a substantial rise in Internet use.By
September 2001, 143
million people in the United States (or 53.9 percent) were using the Internet,
up from 116.5 million people (or 44.5 percent) in August 2000. The
widespread increase in information technologies in the United States has
occurred across all 50 states.As
Figure 1-2 shows, in August 2000, few states had more than 50 percent of
their population using the Internet.By
September 2001, most states had at least half of their population online.
Table 1-1 provides a state-by-state breakdown of individual Internet use.
Figure 1-2: The Rapid Increase
in Internet Use in the United States Across States
The rapid diffusion of the Internet is not a unique
U.S. phenomenon.According to data
compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
from various nations, the rise in Internet use is truly a global phenomenon
(Figure 1-3).[3]
Figure 1-3: Individuals Using the Internet from any Location,
Note:
EU country estimates are for February 2001 and US estimates are for August
2000.Source: European Union, http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/index_en.htm
and U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic and Statistics Administration.
The spread of new technologies, such as the Internet,
can be described by a variety of metrics – such as the percent of households
connected (Figure 1-1) and the percent of the population connected (Figure
1-2).Figure 1-4 shows how selecting
a different basis of measurement can affect the results: in September 2001,
50.5 percent of households had Internet connections; 56.7 percent of the
total U.S. population lived in households with these connections; a lower
43.6 percent of Americans were using the Internet in their homes; while
53.9 percent of the total population used the Internet at some location.
This report features data on individuals more
than data on households, for several reasons.[4] First,
focusing on individuals permits us to study such factors as age,
gender, education, and employment status in determining computer
and Internet use.Second,
Internet access is more frequently occurring outside the home,
at such locations as work, schools, and libraries.And
finally, a small but growing number of Internet connections are
increasingly occurring over personal devices, such as wireless
phones and personal digital assistants, in addition to the computer.For
some variables, such as the type of home Internet connection
and reasons for non-subscribership, the household remains the
unit of measurement because that is the level at which the question
was most appropriately asked.
Figure 1-4: Different Perspectives on Internet Access
and Use Source: NTIA and ESA, U.S. Department of Commerce,
using U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey Supplements
This report examines computer and Internet use from a
number of perspectives.
Chapter 2 provides an overview of the expanding use of
computers and the Internet and how different demographics, such as income
or age, are associated with rates of use.
Chapter 3 looks at online activities.It
also examines the relationship of a variety of demographic factors to online
activities.
Chapter 4 reports on how and where people are going online;
the expanding use of broadband connections; and the small but growing number
of people using secondary devices, such as mobile cell phones. Chapter
4 also examines a particularly significant development in the past year:the
increasing use of the Internet outside the home.
Chapters 5 and 6 focus on particular “outside the home”
locations: work and school.Chapter
5 examines how schools provide access to computers and the Internet for
students, enabling children of all socio-economic backgrounds to use these
technologies.As a result, children
and young adults are among the highest users of new technologies, integrating
the Internet in their schoolwork and other activities.Chapter
6 focuses on how use at the workplace has affected the presence and use
of computers and the Internet at home.
Of course, not all Americans are using computers or the
Internet at high rates.Chapter 7
examines how one such group—those with disabilities—still trails behind
the national average in terms of use.Chapter
8 discusses more generally the population that is not online and considers
some possible reasons for their lack of connectivity.
Finally, Chapter 9 examines changes in Internet and computer
use for subgroups of the population over time.Using
a standard methodology to gauge inequality, our research shows that inequality
among various groups is decreasing.As
these trends continue, we expect that new information technologies will
become more widely shared by an ever-expanding number of Americans.
Table 1-1.Internet Use by
Percent of State Population (90 Percent
Confidence Interval)*
60.2 million U.S. homes (or 56.5 percent) had a personal computer.Seven
of every eight households with computers (88.1 percent) also subscribed
to the Internet.As a result, more
than half of U.S. households (53.9 million homes, or 50.5 percent) had
Internet connections.As
shown in Figure 1-1, this remarkable rise to over 50 percent household
penetration of both computers and the Internet occurred very quickly.[2]
Selected Years
Selected Countries, 1999 and 2000
