FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 6, 2006

Internet Usage Trends – Through the Demographic Lens

One in five adults in this country are disconnected from the just-in-time information source that the internet has become for many people.

BY Susannah Fox

FOR MEDIA OR OTHER INQUIRIES:

Communications Department
202.419.4372
www.pewresearch.org

RECOMMENDED CITATION

Pew Research Center, November 2006, "Internet Usage Trends – Through the Demographic Lens"

About Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, computational social science research and other data-driven research. It studies politics and policy; news habits and media; the internet and technology; religion; race and ethnicity; international affairs; social, demographic and economic trends; science; research methodology and data science; and immigration and migration. Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.

© Pew Research Center 2026

Table of contents

Internet Usage Trends – Through the Demographic Lens

One in five adults in this country are disconnected from the just-in-time information source that the internet has become for many people.

Internet users solve problems or choose products by tapping their social networks and by using a search engine. Looking at these trends through a demographic lens, however, we see that about one in five adults in this country are disconnected from the just-in-time information source that the internet has become for many people. One in five adults are disconnected from the online communities that people use to find a new job, a new place to live, or the best treatment for their loved one’s illness.