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wow to mainstream
Study: Now fully integrated into American life
By Marty Beard
Still surfing the web for fun and fun alone? That’s so 1997 of you, and such a newbie way to behave.
Internet users have grown more experienced and familiar with the medium, meaning that they’re increasingly using it for so-called serious purposes, such as conducting work-related research online or seeking advice from family members via email, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Foundation.
"The internet has gone from novelty to utility for many Americans," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew project. "They are beginning to take it for granted, but they can’t imagine life without it."
The internet has lost its status as a novelty, the Pew group determined, because people are getting used to it.
People have learned what they need and like online, and they are more efficient at getting it. When people gain a year of internet experience, the amount of time they spend online decreases.
The average internet user spent seven fewer minutes online in March 2001 than in March 2000, the study says, 83 minutes a session versus 90 minutes a session.
"For many, the internet until recently has been a ‘wow’ technology, but with time it has receded somewhat into the background of their lives," the report says.
Another reason for this changing perception of the internet is that the internet audience has grown so vast that it doesn’t make sense not to use it for meaningful purposes.
Internet users’ friends, family and acquaintances are very likely to be online these days. Fifty-five million Americans logged onto the internet from work in January, up from 43 million in March 2000.
"It’s easy to see how people take advantage of a growing network," says John B. Horrigan, senior research specialist with the Pew project.
"Each friend who gets internet access and each grandmother who sends her first email builds the community of internet users. The larger the community gets, the more likely it is that people will turn to email to share intimate and crucial communications."
When people first start using email, their inclination is often to pass every joke or vignette onto everyone they know who has email. While lighthearted uses of email have not disappeared, people are more likely to use email to relay urgent and important content now than before.
By March 2001, 51 million people in the U.S. reported having contacted family via email for advice, up from 30 million the year before.
More than 84 percent of email users have used email to get in touch with family members, and 80 percent have used email to get in touch with friends.
Time makes all the difference in how people use email, the study finds. In March 2000, 37 percent of internet users who emailed family members reported exchanging messages about difficult topics, and a year later, that figure had risen to 44 percent.
In March of 2001, 79 percent of internet users considered email very useful for keeping in touch with family, off from 88 percent in March 2000, a decline that the report says indicates that email use is becoming routine.
When people gain an additional year of internet experience, they’re more likely to use email to contact family and express concerns and cares to family via email.
Another symptom of how the internet has been assimilated into everyday life as a tool is its popularity for work-related research.
Of Americans with internet access, more than one-third do work-related research online while at work, the study says. And 44 percent believe that the internet boosts their work performance.
Fifty-five percent of people who have net access at work logged on in a typical day last year, compared to 50 percent in 2000.
The percentage of people using the internet to conduct work-related research on a typical day in the workplace increased to 19 percent in March 2001, up from 14 percent the year before.
People who have been online the longest are the likeliest to conduct work-related research. In fact, people who are "long wired," or have been online for three years or more, are four times as likely as internet newcomers to use the web for work-related web research.
Thirty-two percent of the long-wired set goes online to carry out work research on a typical day.
Pew arrived at these results by polling 1,501 Americans, 57 percent of whom were internet users, in March 2001, and comparing their responses to a survey conducted a year earlier.
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Change in
Participation |
|||
| Activity |
March 2001 |
March 2000 |
% increase |
|
100 |
75 |
33 |
|
| Instant messaging |
48 |
36 |
33 |
| Seek info on hobbies |
83 |
64 |
30 |
| Online just for fun |
66 |
53 |
25 |
| Seeing video/audio clips |
56 |
40 |
40 |
| Listen/download music |
40 |
29 |
38 |
| Play games |
40 |
30 |
36 |
| Find sports scores |
38 |
28 |
36 |
| Look up product info |
82 |
63 |
30 |
| Look up travel info |
72 |
55 |
31 |
| Movies/books/music info |
64 |
52 |
30 |
| Look up health info |
64 |
47 |
36 |
| News |
64 |
52 |
23 |
| Government web sites |
60 |
42 |
43 |
| Job-related research |
52 |
41 |
27 |
| Financial information |
45 |
38 |
17 |
| Look for job |
44 |
31 |
42 |
| Look for place to live |
32 |
20 |
60 |
| Religious/spiritual info |
27 |
18 |
50 |
| Buy a product |
58 |
40 |
45 |
| Buy a travel service |
46 |
29 |
59 |
| Online banking |
25 |
14 |
79 |
| Online auction |
22 |
12 |
83 |
| Buy/sell stocks |
13 |
10 |
30 |
|
Source: Pew Internet & American Life
Project |
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March 4, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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