For many Americans, going online is an important way to connect with friends and family, shop, get news and search for information. Yet today, 13% of U.S. adults do not use the internet, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data.
The size of this group has changed little over the past three years, despite recent government and social service programs to encourage internet adoption. But that 13% figure is substantially lower than in 2000, when Pew Research Center first began to study the social impact of technology. That year, nearly half (48%) of American adults did not use the internet. (The 2015 figure of 15% is not statistically different from the current figure.)
A 2013 survey from the Center found some key reasons that some people do not use the internet. A third of non-internet users (34%) did not go online because they had no interest in doing so or did not think the internet was relevant to their lives. Another 32% of non-internet users said the internet was too difficult to use, including 8% of this group who said they were “too old to learn.” Cost was also a barrier for some adults who were offline – 19% cited the expense of internet service or owning a computer.
The latest Pew Research Center analysis also shows that internet non-adoption is correlated to a number of demographic variables, including age, educational attainment, household income and community type.
Seniors are the group most likely to say they never go online. About four-in-ten adults ages 65 and older (41%) do not use the internet, compared with only 1% of 18- to 29-year-olds. Household income and education are also indicators of a person’s likelihood to be offline. Around a third of adults with less than a high school education do not use the internet, but that share falls as the level of educational attainment increases. Adults from households earning less than $30,000 a year are roughly eight times more likely than the most affluent adults to not use the internet.
Rural Americans are about twice as likely as those who live in urban or suburban settings to never use the internet.
Read more at the Pew Research Center.
Photo by comprock 
