The survey also noted that Americans living in urban environments were equally as likely to not use the web as their suburban counterparts at 13 percent each. And among those without a high school diploma, the share not using the internet dropped from 81% to 33% in the same time period.
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That figure is down substantially from 2000 when 48 percent said they didn’t go online. Making the internet wireless and free would go a long way toward bringing minorities online.
In fact, the breakdown of Internet users compared to non-users seems to reflect the Americans who would have those kinds of concerns.
Seniors are the group most likely to say they never go online. Thirty-nine percent of those 65 and older said they don’t go online, compared with 3 percent of those ages 18 through 29.
An equal percentage of adult men and women do not use the Internet, but the statistics show differences between races.
Household income and education also play a role. 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. Those in households with an income of $30,000 or less per annum were about 8x more likely than the most affluent to not use the Internet.
The survey was conducted from March 17-April 12, May 28-31 and again June 10-July 12, and included only English-speaking Asians. Another 32% of non-internet users said the internet was too hard to use, including 8% of this group who said they were “too old to learn”.
In its 2013 survey, Pew reported that most of those who were not using the Internet had little interest in doing so. And 19 percent cited cost, saying they couldn’t afford Internet service or a computer. Rural Americans are the least likely to have broadband, and if you can remember what a pain in the butt dial-up internet connections were, you can understand why some country folk simply don’t care. For example, 86 percent of adults 65 and older did not go online in 2000; today that figure has been cut in half.
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Pew’s latest research is based on a series of three polls conducted in 2015 that questioned 5,005 people in the US.
