1/5 of Americans Don’t Use the Internet
Sometimes it’s hard to fathom that I lived the first eight years of my life without the internet and the first 12 or so without the internet at home. I hardly remember what life was like without it. So it’s pretty shocking that a new Pew study found 21% of Americans say they still don’t use the internet, 16 years after my first encounter with Prodigy in my 3rd grade classroom.
I was trying to think if I know a single person who doesn’t go online these days and I’m drawing a total blank. Even my 60-year-old dad, who doesn’t have an e-mail address and refuses to ever turn on his cell phone, knows how to hunt and peck his way to Google to search for the latest house/boat/car he’s daydreaming about buying.
Over 2/3 (69%) of those who don’t use the internet are senior citizens and possibly don’t see the value since they’ve already lived for so many decades without the web. However, it saddens me that other non-users live in rural areas, have a low income or lack a high school education. I truly believe that the internet is a portal to the rest of the world and can be of huge value to people’s lives, especially if they’re geographically isolated. Heck, in Finland, high-speed internet access is a legal right! The FCC’s Broadband Opportunities for Rural America program aims to remedy this imbalance. Hopefully soon, everyone who wants to use the internet will have the chance.
—Alyssa
