Two different measures indicate that Internet users who do any given activity in their everyday lives are more likely to do that activity offline than online. First, we find that among Internet users who sometimes do a given activity offline and sometimes do it online, many more were likely to choose the offline option more frequently. And second, among Internet users who do a given activity, many more are likely to do that activity exclusively offline than exclusively online.
First, it made sense to us that many Internet users who perform a given activity would find themselves toggling back and forth between online and offline modes. As people move about in their everyday lives, sometimes using a computer is more convenient or appropriate for them, and sometimes it is not.
Two Internet users describe this online/offline toggling and the advantages of each: “I still rely on the old tried and true ways when I get up (in the morning), CNN, my local channels, the newspaper…Habit, I guess, but if I want to find some future news or something special, the Internet is the way.” And the second writes, “I do 90% of my banking and bill paying online. I visit the bank for manual deposits and ATM transactions 6 – 8 times a year.”
We asked these bi-modal users – those who toggle between online and offline – which mode they used more often, offline or online. In every case but one, many more bi-modal users said they more frequently did these activities offline than online. Among the most marked are in areas of entertainment, communicating with friends and family, shopping for daily goods, getting ubiquitous information like news and weather. Some of those activities where the Internet showed the strongest pull are the killer everyday app of getting maps or directions (48% do that more often online) and getting addresses, phone numbers or zip codes, doing banking, buying tickets, playing games, and getting sports scores.
Even though our tracking surveys indicate that over time, more and more Internet users are going online to try different everyday activities, large numbers of them remain in the camp of those who never have gone online for some popular activities. When we asked users if they did a particular activity exclusively online or exclusively offline, we saw the same pattern of results that we saw in preferences among those who toggle back and forth between the online and offline worlds. Particularly in the category of entertainment, users stick to the offline world. Nearly two-thirds and upwards continue to pursue these entertainment activities exclusively offline. Users show the most commitment to being online for the same kinds of interactive or purposeful activities that led the “togglers” to prefer online mode: 56% of those who get maps or directions will do it online exclusively. Between a quarter and a third check weather, buy tickets, or get sports scores exclusively online.
