Dallas (TX) – Almost four of five U.S. households have access to the Internet today, according to a survey released by Parks Associates. That, of course, means that a fairly high percentage of U.S. consumers does not have access to the Internet and Parks found that very few of them plan on using the Internet in the foreseeable time.    

Parks Associates said that about 20 million U.S. households, or 18% of all households, are not connected to the Internet at this time. The numbers showed up in the research firm’s National Technology Scan survey, which included responses from 1000 participating households.

Interestingly, the numbers that are connected to using a computer are slightly higher than 18%. For example, 21% of households said that they never looked up a website on the Internet, 21% said they never sent or received an email, 21% said they never searched for information on the Internet and 30% said they never used a computer to create documents.

The dominant factors playing into computer and Internet use are age and education. 50% of those who have never used email are over 65, and 56% had no schooling beyond high school. Of those 20 million disconnected households, only 7% plan on subscribing to an Internet service within the next 12 months.

"Internet connections have slowly increased in U.S. households, but getting the disconnected minority online will continue to be difficult," John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, said. "Age and economics are important factors, but the heart of the challenge is deeper. Many people just don't see a reason to use computers and do not associate technology with the needs and demands of their daily lives."

Wolfgang

May 13, 2008 16:53     

"That, of course, means that a fairly high percentage of U.S. consumers does not have access to the Internet" "do not" If TGdaily needs an editor I'll gladly apply, I'm a grammar nazi :)
robert report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

Parts of the USA are Still in the '50's!

May 13, 2008 19:14     

"21% of households said that they never looked up a website on the Internet, 21% said they never sent or received an email, 21% said they never searched for information on the Internet and 30% said they never used a computer to create documents." OMG! Is the USA still in the '50's?! Do these people have electricity?! LOL. I think the last number surprises me the most. Can you believe that ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE Americans have never created a document with a computer?? I didn't think it was possible. "The dominant factors playing into computer and Internet use are age and education. 50% of those who have never used email are over 65, and 56% had no schooling beyond high school." Actually, I can understand this. In the early '90's, I taught my Mom (she was not over 65 BTW) how to use DOS WordPerfect v5.1 and a little DOS Lotus 1-2-3. It was difficult at first, but eventually she learned the basics. She now runs a little office and uses an XP Home computer with Outlook Express, Windows WordPerfect, etc... Learning computers can be intimidating. If I had not been there to tutor her, I doubt she would have taken the time to learn. However, to her credit, she did previously take a Wang word processing course at my local community college. It used 8 inch floppies.

Cipherdude report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

lol

May 13, 2008 23:41     

"Penetration" I honestly remember a few years ago when I was like that. reading newspapers, and the phone book. seems so weird now.
john J.D. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

prices to high

May 14, 2008 01:27     

Internet prices are too high in US. That has to change.
joe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

@Wolfgang: Actually "does not" is correct since "a ...

May 14, 2008 04:38     

@Wolfgang: Actually "does not" is correct since "a fairly high percentage" is the subject of that sentence. So I'm pretty sure no one will need your skills.
Joe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

Internet price in the USA is Unfair

May 14, 2008 08:41     

Why internet prices in the USA is so higher than other countries not to mention speed disadvantages compare to korea and japan.
Oa report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

@Robert

May 14, 2008 10:31     

Robert, "a fairly high percentage" is the item being addressed, so that statistic itself is singular, and "does not" is applicable. Funny you believe yourself a grammar Nazi. You're certainly not a punctuation Nazi, as the only periods I could find in your post were in the abbreviation of United States. I imagine that is only because you copied it from the article.
Philstuf report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Its the rural areas

May 15, 2008 13:05     

The rural areas of our country (which account for a small percentage of population, but a huge land area) are the ones not connected. I've visited nearly every state in the continental 48, and in the west there are large tracks of nothing, so I doubt even cable can get out that far. Just to show that there are physical boundaries as well that account for that percentage. Personally though, I don't know how I could go without the Internet for even one day. I've been "online" almost every day since the 2400 baud modem and BBS days. I remember waiting nearly an hour for the first Doom demo to download, just to find out my 386 wouldn't run it right. Then on to AOL 1.0 baby, and finally a local ISP once such a thing existed. All of that was from elementary to high school for me, so I drug my family into computers.

EEngineer report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0