Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Almost one-in-five members of the House and Senate are a racial or ethnic minority, making the 114th Congress the most diverse in history. However, Congress remains disproportionately white when compared with the U.S. population, which has grown increasingly diverse in recent decades.
Some political observers predict that Obama will be using his veto pen a lot more in his last two years in office than he did in the first six. Recent history indicates that presidents do veto more bills when both houses of Congress are controlled by the opposing party.
While Facebook remains the most popular social media site, other platforms — like LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter — saw higher rates of growth over the past year. In 2014, 52% of online adults used two or more social media sites, up from 42% in 2013.
The new GOP-controlled Congress takes office at a time when the American public sees partisan rifts in the country getting worse.
The wealth of material from this non-scientific, opt-in canvassing of experts resulted in seven reports about what trends might emerge in online life between now and 2025. Here are some key takeaways.
Despite a generation of threats and competitors, email ranks as the most important digital tool for workers who use the internet. Only 4% of these networked workers cite social media as very important on the job
Online American workers say the internet and email are very important tools for doing their jobs, rating them higher in importance than landline phones, mobile phones, and social networking sites. Just 7% say the internet makes them less productive at work.
An unusually active lame duck session enabled the 113th Congress to avoid its predecessor’s record for legislative unproductivity.
Will governments and corporations expand current tracking policies? Or will innovators create new ways for individuals to control personal information? Experts are divided on whether a secure and balanced privacy-rights infrastructure will be in place by 2025.
Highlights from experts’ predictions about the future of privacy in America show they were divided on whether or not a secure, trusted privacy-rights infrastructure would be in place by 2025.
