One Third of US Thumbs Nose at Internet

A little under one-third of U.S. households have no Internet access

low value to their daily lives

Or low value to their daily income, and they simply can't afford the access ( or computer ). I'd think this would be a higher percentage of the 1/3 versus anything else. A better survey would be how many people actually own a computer and don't have Internet access... that would surely be a more telling and interesting story.

Forty-four percent of these households say they are not interested in anything on the Internet, versus just 22 percent who say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service, the survey showed.

that's "just" 7 million households who "say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service"...

A better survey would be how many people actually own a computer and don't have Internet access... that would surely be a more telling and interesting story.

according to the year-ago (2005) report, 8 of 39 million homes without Internet access owned a computer.
probably similar numbers this year.

i wonder how much instersection there is between the 7 million and the 8 million numbers.

It would also be interesting to look at the Demographic crosstab. I suspect there is a large corelation between age and non-internet use (i.e., the older the person, the less likely to use/value the internet).

My next door neighbor didn't have the Internet for years. She just got a cheap computer and dial-up Internet in 2006 (or was it 05?). She doesn't have a whole lot of extra spending money so it wasn't a priority. She's not quite hooked yet ;-)

Nothing surprizing in that report......considering:

1950 - USA households with TV's: 9%
1956 - USA households with TV's: 71%

yet it took another 22 years (1978) before 98% of USA households had TV's.

Demographics dictate that the first 2/3 of the population are easy to get, the last third is a tough market.

9% of USA households don't have cars today, 21% of households in New Orleans at the time of Katrina didn't have a car.....

Given the level of technology/education involved with the Internet, its growth has been fantastic, certainly quicker than most would have predicted 15 years ago ;)

I wonder what the percentage is of people that don't have 'Internet' access but have cell phones...

My parents (in their 70's) do not have a computer. I have even offered to buy them one with DSL service and they absolutely see no need.

At Christmas my brother and I got them each a cell phone and pay for the service. Before that they never had a cell phone.

It's not that they are poor...in fact they have it made in the shade financially. A huge percentage of households in the US are elderly and I would imagine most of this age group cares little about surfing the net, ipods, blackberries and the such.

Throw into the mix that segment of our population that refuses to work (but are perfectly able) and would rather scrap by with government income redistribution programs. I doubt many of these people can afford a computer.

So, the results of this survey does not surprise me.

My aunt (early 60's) has a computer, and does have interent, but really sees no use to it. And no surprise: her computer runs Windows 95 (no kidding), and her internet is dialup access through AOHell.

It's an old computer that screws up a lot, with access that would make most people scratch their heads as to what the fuss is all about.

Had a 90 year old uncle who instantly understood the web's value when I showed him <an adult> site.

[edited by: lawman at 9:15 pm (utc) on Mar. 26, 2007]

I sometimes wish I didn't have internet access: no more information overload...

A lot of people just don't care about computers still. They still use DVDs, video game systems and other things, they just don't have any time for the internet. I know several people who don't even have an email address.