The Internet and the Electronic Age - The Digital Divide

Although the Internet has swept into American households at a faster rate than almost any other technology, many people are still not wired. According a memo by director Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet & American Life Project (April 13, 2004), 27% of American adults did not use a computer, and 37% still did not go online. As can be

TABLE 1.3

Adult computer users, by selected characteristics, 2004
% of U.S. adults in each group who use computers
N = 2,204.
SOURCE: Lee Rainie, "Computer Penetration Demographics," in Pew Internet Project Data Memo, Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 13, 2004, http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_April2004_Data_Memo.pdf (accessed October 25, 2004). Used by permission of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which bears no responsibility for the interpretations presented or conclusions reached based on analysis of the data.
Men	73%
Women	72%
Generation
Gen Y (ages 18–27)	85%
Gen X (ages 28–39)	87%
Trailing boomers (ages 40–49)	84%
Leading boomers (ages 50–58)	76%
Matures (ages 59–68)	57%
After work (ages 69+)	24%
Race and ethnicity
Whites	73%
Blacks	62%
Hispanics (English speaking)	75%
Household income
<$30,000	55%
$30,000–$49,999	82%
$50,000–$74,999	92%
$75,000+	93%
Community type
Urban	75%
Suburban	76%
Rural	61%
Educational attainment
Less than high school	39%
High school graduate	67%
Some college courses	84%
College graduate/graduate degree	91%

seen in Table 1.3 and Table 1.4, demographic differences existed between computer users who were connected to the Internet and those who were not. The biggest discrepancies were in age, income, and educational attainment. Race, gender, and community type factored in to a lesser extent. The 2000 U.S. Census uncovered similar results, which can be viewed in Table 1.5. Both surveys reveal that those in typically disadvantaged demographics have the least exposure to the Internet. This leads to a concern that, without the Internet at their disposal, people in these demographic segments will become even more disadvantaged. Not only are they disconnected from e-mail, which has become a common form of communication, but they also do not benefit from such online services as employment Web sites and research resources that many users take for granted.

Wealth and Education

Wealth lies at the very heart of this digital divide. According to the data memo issued by Rainie of Pew/Internet in April 2004, nearly 89% of the people in households that made over $75,000 reported they used the

TABLE 1.4

Adult Internet users, by selected characteristics, 2004
% of U.S. adults in each group who use the Internet
N = 2,204.
SOURCE: Lee Rainie, "Internet Penetration Demographics," in Pew Internet Project Data Memo, Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 13, 2004, http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_April2004_Data_Memo.pdf (accessed October 25, 2004). Used by permission of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which bears no responsibility for the interpretations presented or conclusions reached based on analysis of the data.
Men	65%
Women	61%
Generation
Gen Y (ages 18–27)	78%
Gen X (ages 28–39)	78%
Trailing boomers (ages 40–49)	71%
Leading boomers (ages 50–58)	62%
Matures (ages 59–68)	47%
After work (ages 69+)	17%
Race and ethnicity
Whites	64%
Blacks	46%
Hispanics (English speaking)	63%
Household income
<$30,000	41%
$30,000–$49,999	69%
$50,000–$74,999	86%
$75,000	89%
Community type
Urban	65%
Suburban	67%
Rural	48%
Educational attainment
Less than high school	24%
High school graduate	54%
Some college courses	78%
College graduate/graduate degree	85%

Internet, compared with 41% of people who lived in households earning less than $30,000 a year. (See Table 1.4.) This gap in Internet use has shown only marginal improvement over the past four years. A tracking survey completed by Pew/Internet in spring 2000 revealed that 31% in the lowest income bracket used the Internet, while 78% of those in the highest bracket were online. Of those who did not go online, 30% said the reason was that ISPs charge too much. Major differences also existed in how varying income groups online used the Internet. The Pew/Internet study America's Online Pursuits revealed that 75% of those in the $30,000 and under category reported they went online just for fun, while only 58% in the $75,000 and over category agreed they used the Internet for fun. Perhaps not surprisingly, wealthier households used the Internet more to seek financial information or to purchase reservations. Only half (49%) of online Americans with household incomes in the lowest bracket tried to buy something online, as opposed to three quarters (74%) in the highest bracket. Those with the highest income in the survey were five times more likely to purchase stocks online than those with the smallest salaries.

TABLE 1.5

Households with computers and Internet access, by selected characteristic, 2001
[In percent. Based on the Current Population Survey and subject to sampling error.]
1Non-Hispanic.
2Figure does not meet standards of reliability or precision.
SOURCE: "No. 1158. Households with Computers and Internet Access by Selected Characteristic: 2001," in Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003, U.S. Census Bureau, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Spring 2003, http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/03statab/inforcomm.pdf (accessed October 25, 2004)
	Households with computers				Households with Internet access
Characteristic	Total	Rural	Urban	Central city	Total	Rural	Urban	Central city
All households	56.5	55.6	56.7	51.5	50.5	48.7	51.1	45.7
Age of householder:
Under 25 years old	51.1	41.3	53.0	50.9	44.7	33.5	46.7	45.3
25 to 34 years old	62.5	61.5	62.8	57.5	57.3	55.4	58.8	53.9
35 to 44 years old	69.9	71.2	69.4	62.1	62.6	62.3	63.4	54.3
45 to 54 years old	66.9	68.0	66.4	59.9	60.9	61.1	61.3	53.4
55 years old or over	39.1	38.0	39.5	35.5	33.9	32.1	35.0	29.9
Householder race/ethnicity:
White1	61.1	58.0	62.4	60.0	55.4	51.0	56.8	54.8
Black1	37.1	31.5	37.7	33.9	30.8	24.4	30.9	27.4
American, Indian, Eskimo, Aleut1	44.7	37.6	49.52	49.5	38.7	31.4	41.5	44.1
Asian or Pacific Islander1	72.72	69.4	72.8	67.4	68.1	68.2	64.12	63.1
Hispanic	40.0	36.6	40.3	38.1	32.0	29.9	32.6	29.8
Household type:
Married couple with children under 18	78.9	78.6	79.0	72.4	71.6	69.7	73.6	64.6
Male householder with children under 18	55.1	53.6	55.6	51.8	44.9	39.9	47.2	44.3
Female householder with children under 18	49.2	51.0	48.9	41.6	40.0	40.9	42.3	33.5
Family households without children	58.8	55.0	60.4	55.2	53.2	48.9	55.3	49.7
Nonfamily households	39.2	31.6	40.9	41.4	35.0	26.9	36.2	37.0
Education of householder:
Elementary	16.0	13.4	17.1	16.9	11.2	10.4	11.6	11.5
Some high school	28.2	27.6	28.4	25.5	22.7	22.4	22.6	19.8
High school graduate or GED	46.5	50.0	45.0	39.0	39.8	42.1	39.3	32.5
Some college	64.5	68.5	63.2	58.4	57.7	60.2	57.3	52.0
Bachelor's degree or more	79.8	81.1	79.5	76.7	75.2	75.1	75.0	72.0
Household income:
Under $5,000	25.9	17.9	28.2	24.5	20.5	12.5	23.0	20.2
$5,000 to $9,999	19.2	16.4	20.1	20.6	14.4	11.0	15.5	14.5
$10,000 to $14,999	25.7	24.3	26.3	24.3	19.4	18.1	20.7	19.3
$15,000 to $19,999	31.8	29.4	32.6	33.9	23.6	21.0	25.3	24.6
$20,000 to $24,999	40.1	40.0	40.1	36.4	31.8	31.7	32.4	28.7
$25,000 to $34,999	49.7	49.4	49.9	49.9	42.2	40.5	43.7	41.3
$35,000 to $49,999	64.3	64.7	64.2	64.4	56.4	55.0	57.5	56.2
$50,000 to $74,999	77.7	78.1	77.6	75.8	71.4	70.6	71.7	70.5
$75,000 and over	89.0	89.0	88.9	86.4	85.4	84.8	85.5	83.8

With most consumer-buying trends in the United States, wealth and education typically go hand in hand. Internet use is no exception. Looking at Table 1.4, only 24% of people with less than a high school education used the Internet, while 85% of college graduates went online. According to a Pew/Internet survey conducted in spring 2000 and published as Who's Not Online, very few (17%) adults with less than a high school degree used the Internet, versus a large majority (75%) of those with college degrees. Americans with a good deal of education utilized the Internet in much same way as those with high incomes. The December 2003 Pew/Internet study America's Online Pursuits revealed that college graduates preferred to go online more to bank, trade stocks, and make reservations than did those with less education. Using the Internet for job research or to answer a question tended to increase incrementally with education level as well. Only 80% of wired high school graduates utilized the Internet to answer a question they had by going online, whereas 87% of those with a college education reported using the Internet to investigate a query.

Age

Age was the third major factor that played a role in who used the Internet. As can be seen in Table 1.4, Internet usage was lower for older Americans. The transition, however, was not gradual. Seventy-one percent of those aged forty to forty-nine used the Internet in 2004, which was nearly as much as Gen-Xers (ages twenty-eight to thirty-nine). People aged fifty to fifty-eight were not that far behind at 62%. However, Internet usage suddenly fell off by 15% for those aged fifty-nine to sixty-eight. Only 17% of the people over age sixty-nine used the Internet. The reason for this low Internet usage in this highest age bracket was fairly obvious. The Internet was neither available at home nor common in the workplace until the late 1990s, when many of those over seventy had already left the workforce. They had long ago adopted other ways to do their work, get directions, and look up information.

Once seniors decide to take the plunge, however, they generally spend as much time online as younger users. Most seniors who did use the Internet were white, highly educated, and lived in households with higher incomes. The spring 2000 Pew/Internet tracking survey revealed that 22% of white seniors over age sixty-five were online and only 11% of African-Americans over sixty-five were online. These numbers are expected to change significantly over time, as new generations become retirees. Young and middle-aged Internet users are expected to continue using the Internet at the volume they do today and may even use their increasing spare time to take further advantage of the Internet.

Race and Ethnicity

Differences in Internet usage between different races and ethnicities—while not as dramatic as differences between different age and income groups—are significant and persistent. Table 1.4 shows that in 2004 white people and English-speaking Hispanics were roughly on par with one another in terms of Internet usage at 64% and 63% respectively. This was a dramatic change from 2000, when only 43% of Hispanics were online compared to 50% of whites. African-Americans trailed behind in both years. Their usage rate climbed from 34% in 2000 to 46% in 2004, a smaller increase than that shown by whites or Hispanics. Generally, Internet usage between races and ethnicities varies greatly with income, education, age, and even community type. Figure 1.4, released by the U.S. Commerce Department, shows that the difference in Internet usage in 2001 among different racial and ethnic groups was fairly small at the higher income brackets. For Americans making over $75,000, 89.8% of Asian-Americans, 86.2% of whites, 77% of African-Americans, and 75.6% of Hispanics were wired. At lower incomes, however, the discrepancies became enormous. A full 45% of Asians with an income of $15,000 or below still utilized the Internet. Only 20.8% of whites in this income group were online, and the percentage of African-Americans in this income group using the Internet was just 9.2%. A March 2004 Pew/Internet report entitled Older Americans and the Internet revealed that fewer African-Americans and Hispanics over age sixty-five were using the Internet than their white peers, and a February 2004 Pew/Internet report entitled Rural Areas and the Internet concluded that African-Americans living in rural areas did not use the Internet as much as those in the cities and suburbs.

America's Online Pursuits indicated that people of different races and ethnicities used the Internet in different

FIGURE 1.4

ways. Whites tended to use the Internet to make online purchases, bank online, or buy stocks more than African-Americans and English-speaking Hispanics. In making online reservations, however, Hispanics came out on top. Some 59% of online Hispanics said they used the Internet at some point to make a travel purchase online, compared with 48% of wired African-Americans and 52% of wired whites. Both African-Americans and Hispanics used the Internet more than whites for entertainment purposes, such as downloading music or looking for sports information. In the gaming arena, 34% of online whites had played online games, versus 54% of Hispanics and 48% of blacks.

Gender

Differences in gender were not so apparent when looking at the number of overall users. As Table 1.4 reveals, 65% of the adult male population of this country was online in 2004 as opposed to 61% of women. The real differences came in how the two genders used the Internet. According America's Online Pursuits men were much more likely to seek financial information online, while women were more likely to look for religious information. When it came to seeking health information online, wired women beat out wired men 74% to 58%. On the other hand, 81% of wired men pursued information on hobbies online compared with 73% of women.

FIGURE 1.5

Community Type

Internet usage also diverged according to the type of community people lived in. While urban and suburban Internet usage was relatively on par at 65% and 67%, rural Internet usage came in only at 48% in 2004. (See Table 1.4.) The February 2004 Pew/Internet report Rural Areas and the Internet revealed that, as a whole, wired rural adults were more likely to look for spiritual information and less likely to conduct financial transactions online. The report also suggested that the low number of rural Internet users was not due to a lack of Internet service in remote regions. The discrepancy had more to do with the fact that rural Americans were, in general, older and less wealthy than urbanites or suburbanites. Seniors accounted for 22% of people living in rural areas, as opposed to 16% in suburban populations. Forty-seven percent of rural residents had household incomes of $30,000 or less, compared with 29% of suburbanites and 39% of urbanites. Figure 1.5, released by the U.S. Commerce Department, supports these findings. The level of Internet usage for those with incomes greater than $75,000 was nearly the same regardless of community type in 2001. In this income bracket, 85.5% of urbanites and 84.8% of rural Americas went online. Just as with race, the discrepancies between the groups grew as yearly income waned. Only 12.5% of people making under $5,000 in rural areas used the Internet, whereas 22.7% of low-income urbanites were wired.

These trends occurred on a regional scale as well. According to Internet Use by Region in the United States (Washington, DC: Pew/Internet, August 2003), the regions with the lowest Internet usage were the South (48%) and the Lower Midwest (55%). (See Table 1.6.) The regions with the highest Internet usage were the Pacific Northwest (68%), New England (66%), and California (65%). For the most part, these regional trends could be ascribed to wealth and education. California and New England had large populations of wealthy and educated people, and the South had some of the lowest incomes and education levels. The exception to this rule was the Pacific Northwest where the number of Internet users tended to be disproportionately high in relation to income and education. Table 1.7 shows Internet use by state, and the results reflect the regional findings. Mississippi and Arkansas had the lowest percentage of Internet users in 2001 at 36.1% and 36.9% respectively. The states with the highest percentage of Internet users were Alaska and New Mexico with 64.1% and 61.6% Internet users.