{"id":19015,"date":"2013-11-29T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/7-things-to-know-about-offline-americans\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:44:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:44:29","slug":"7-things-to-know-about-offline-americans","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/11\/29\/7-things-to-know-about-offline-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"7 things to know about offline Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pew Research Center recently reported that 15% of American adults are not internet users<\/a> and that there were a number of demographic groups<\/a> of adults who were particularly unlikely to be online.<\/p>\n\n

That number surprised some and became part of \u00a0policy discussion<\/a> on Capitol Hill about broadband adoption issues.<\/p>\n\n

Here are some lesser-known things that we found when exploring offline Americans and their lives:<\/p>\n\n

\"FT_Offline\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Many of them are \u201csecondary internet users\u201d: 44% of offline adults have asked a friend or family member to look something up or complete a task on the internet for them.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0Notable numbers of them live in homes with internet connections: 23% of offline adults live in a household where someone else uses the internet at home, a proportion that has remained relatively steady for over a decade.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0A share of them used to be online, but have since dropped off: 14% of offline adults say that they once used to use the internet, but have since stopped for some reason.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0Age is one of the strongest factors related to non-internet use, followed by education and income. Over half of seniors who did not attend college or live in households earning less than $50,000 per year are offline.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0A share of non-internet users live in cities:\u00a0among urban residents, 14% are offline.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0A rising share of them cite \u201cusability\u201d issues as their main barrier: 32% now say they don\u2019t use the internet because they say it is not easy for them to use. These non-users say it is difficult or frustrating to go online, they are physically unable, or they are worried about other issues such as spam, spyware and hackers. This figure is considerably higher than in earlier surveys. In 2009 when we asked that same question, only 12% of offline Americans cited usability issues as a reason for not being online.<\/p>\n\n

\"FT_Dont_Use\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Most of them say they would need help going online: 63% of offline Americans say they would need someone to help them go online if they choose to use the internet in the future.<\/p>\n\n

NOTE:<\/strong> A previous version of this post said “14% of offline Americans are urban residents.” The corrected version says “among urban residents, 14% are offline.”<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pew Research Center recently reported that 15% of American adults are not internet users. Here are some lesser-known things that we found when in exploring offline Americans and their lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[391,306,305],"bylines":[970],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[526],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-19015","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-broadband","category-internet-connectivity","category-platforms-services","bylines-kathryn-zickuhr","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-internet"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":356,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/11\/29\/7-things-to-know-about-offline-americans\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"7 things to know about offline Americans","description":"The Pew Research Center recently reported that 15% of American adults are not internet users. 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