Report: 1 in 5 offline and plan to stay that way

From Reuters

[Go60Guy]

Interesting article about current trends in new and existing internet users:

Article [cnn.com]

[txbakers]

Literacy could also be a factor, the report suggested, as nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population cannot read well enough to handle everyday tasks

What a sad commentary that is on our great American Education system!

[Go60Guy]

You've got that right.

[TheWebographer]

Yeah, it costs like $9000 a year here to educate a kid - yet graduates often cannot even read a newspaper with comprehension. School is a good babysitting service though...Especially since I can have as many kids as I want and have everyone else pay for it!

I think there will always be a certain percentage of people who are not interested in going online, just as there are who never watch TV. Who is to say if that is bad or not. Maybe they would rather garden or read books...

[Chris_R]

"...my grandmother wants nothing to do with it..."

Wait til grandpa dies and you have to stand in line to find some form you could have printed of the SSA website....

But they will never know.

Old grandmas don't need the web. Anyone else coming into this society needs the web as much as they do a phone.

There are always people out there that can't read (and some of them are on the net as you can judge by postings on plenty of boards).

There is still a great lack of practical education on the part of schools. I knew people in their late teens out of high school that didn't know how to cash a check.

You'd be amazed by the people that don't have the simplest concept of supply and demand.

Ask any auto dealer that had one of those fancy honda s2000s or whatever or 350zs when they were in short supply.

Plenty of demand - and little supply - and people would get upset when dealers wouldn't give them a discount. They couldn't understand - they didn't HAVE to give them a discount - they had plenty of people that would pay MSRP +++

[Go60Guy]

Actually, seniors are the fastest growing segment of online users. Studies show that, once they overcome their initial intimidation, they become avid enthusiasts and great advocates of the internet. They actually spend more time online than the average surfer.

[georgeek]

According to the methodology of the report they went to some lengths to ensure that the sample of 3,500 were representative of the population at large. If they really were and "...one-quarter of the U.S. population cannot read well enough to handle everyday tasks", then 875 should fall into this category. With 20% or 700 claiming that they "...do not go online and have no plans to do so" that means as an absolute minimum there are 125 or 3.5% of the population who are on-line and cannot read.

What I want to know is why do this group always choose to visit my websites!?

[cfx211]

The people behind this report, the Pew Internet and American Life Project [pewinternet.org] have actually done a lot of interesting studies on how the US is using the internet and how that use is changing over time. If you are looking for a good cultural/anthropological perspective on the internet, I would suggest checking them out.