Rather than compiling my own charts this week, I have gathered a number of figures created by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that address in the US. This first chart shows that it was only in 2008 that 50% of adults in America first had broadband access at home. These data might not be the best representation of access, however, because we know that many people, particularly blacks and Hispanics, are accessing the Internet through mobile devices and may be living in urban environments where public wifi is ubiquitous (see next chart).
As the next chart illustrates, nearly 80% of American adults now access the Internet. Access rates topped 50% in 2000. People who became teenagers after this point are often referred to as “digital natives” as opposed to “digital migrants” (for more info, see: “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” by Marc Prensky).
Young people use the Internet at vastly higher rates than seniors. Over 90% of Americans ages 12-29 use the Internet.
Finally, I will leave you with an overall summary of the demographics of Facebook users.
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Dude Man, You Stole My Link, You Nazi | dissociatedpress.com — October 22, 2011
[...] word (it was Merriam-Webster’s word of the year in 2004), the year that broadband access surpassed 50% of the US population /, and the year that Google achieved near-total dominance of search, and made AdSense the most [...]