Low Income Users Up: The “digital divide,” the difference between people who could afford broadband connections at home and those who could not, is getting much smaller.

Senior Users Up: The “seniors divide,” the difference between older people and their children and grand-children, is shrinking. This is true of older baby boomers (the oldest being born in 1946) and the next generation, too.

High School Graduates Up: This is an important shift also.  DSL use used to be associated with higher educational levels, meaning a college degree and/or post-graduate study.

Rural Use Up: One reason rural residents’ use is up is that the rural areas are starting to get access, period. In addition, they are starting to have some choices among providers.

Broadband use is vital to patients and families seeking the highest quality information.  That information is funded, in large part, by tax dollars. It should be available to as many people as possible.

Today’s study shows that that is happening.  The study also finds that people’s sense of the importance of broadband is great enough that the recession has not slowed its growth, even as users cut back on other kinds of services, such as cell phone plans.

America is headed toward a critical mass of people who have broadband. That would be a healthy development for the people and the nation.

Pew Internet and American Life Project

“An April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
shows 63% of adult Americans now have broadband internet connections at home, a
15% increase from a year earlier. April’s level of high-speed adoption represents
a significant jump from figures gathered by the Project since the end of 2007 (54%).
The growth in home broadband adoption occurred even though survey respondents reported
paying more for broadband compared to May 2008. Last year, the average monthly bill
for broadband internet service at home was $34.50, a figure that stands at $39.00
in April 2009. (Emphasis added)

“The growth in broadband adoption indicates that the economic recession has had little
effect on decisions about whether to buy or keep a home high-speed connection. The
Pew Internet Project’s April 2009 survey found that people are twice as likely to
say they have cut back or cancelled a cell phone plan or cable TV service than internet
service.

“For many Americans, a home broadband connection is a conduit for connecting to
community and economic opportunity,” said John B. Horrigan, Associate Director of
the Pew Internet Project and principal author of the report. “That puts broadband
in the ‘must keep’ category for most users, even when economic times are tough.”

The Pew full report on broadband is available free on its website.

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project, June 17, 2009