Overview

When the Pew Internet Project first began writing about the role of the internet in American life in 2000, there were stark differences between those who were using the internet and those who were not. Today, differences in internet access still exist among different demographic groups, especially when it comes to access to high-speed broadband at home. The ways in which people connect to the internet are also much more varied today than they were in 2000. As a result, internet access is no longer synonymous with going online with a desktop computer. Read more ...

For related teens data, see the recent presentation Digital Divides and Bridges: Technology Use Among Youth.

About the Survey

The primary recent data in this report are from a Pew Internet Project tracking survey. The survey was fielded from July 25-August 26, 2011, and was administered by landline and cell phone, in English and Spanish, to 2,260 adults age 18 and older. The margin of error for the full sample is 2 percentage points. For more information about this survey and others that contributed to these findings, please see the Methodology section at the end of this report.