Even though most U.S. adults own a smartphone or subscribe to home broadband, some aspects of the digital divide remain. About 4 in 10 people report being online most of the time
To better understand Americans’ smartphone and broadband adoption, Pew Research Center surveyed 5,733 U.S. adults from May 19 to September 5, 2023. Ipsos conducted this National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) for the Center using address-based sampling and a multimode protocol. This includes both her web and email. In this way, nearly every American adult has the opportunity to choose. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, education, and other categories.
The polls from 2000 to 2021 were conducted by telephone. For more information about this mode transition, please see our Q&A.
Below are the questions, answers, and methodology used in this analysis.
According to the Pew Research Center, most U.S. adults today use the internet (95%), own a smartphone (90%), or have high-speed internet at home, a big change from the early 2000s. (80%) The survey was conducted from May 19 to September 5, 2023.
Adoption of these technologies has skyrocketed over the past two decades, but there are notable differences by age, household income, and education.
The center has been tracking technology usage for years. Recently, we have moved from collecting responses over the phone to using the web and mail. Changes in mode can affect research results in many ways, so investigate how things have changed or stayed the same since the last study on these topics in 2021 You need to take a cautious approach. Learn more about this change below. Please read the Q&A.
Who has a smartphone and home broadband?
Even though adoption rates are high overall, disparities exist by income, level of formal education, and age. These differences are consistent with the Center’s last questions about smartphone ownership and home broadband subscriptions in 2021.
Using a smartphone
Although smartphones are ubiquitous at all income levels, households with an annual income of $100,000 or more are much more likely to own a smartphone than households with an annual income of less than $30,000 (98% vs. 79%) ).
There are also differences due to education. Adults with a bachelor’s degree or some college education are more likely to own a smartphone than adults with a high school diploma or less.
Age also plays a role. Adults over 50, especially those over 65, are less likely to own a smartphone than younger generations.
home broadband
There is a wide gap between the lowest and highest income Americans when it comes to broadband subscriptions. Almost all adults (95%) with an annual household income of at least $100,000 say they have one. By comparison, 57% of adults in households earn less than $30,000 a year. A similar pattern emerges by level of formal education.
Most adults living in rural areas (73%) are less likely than adults living in suburban areas (86%) and slightly more likely than adults living in urban areas (77%) to have high-speed internet at home. It is low. %). Asian (84%) and white (83%) adults are more likely than Hispanic (75%) and black (68%) adults to say they have home broadband. Become. However, many of the racial and ethnic differences disappear when income, education, age, and community type are taken into account.
Adults addicted to smartphones
Approximately 15% of adults are “smartphone dependent,” meaning they own a smartphone but do not subscribe to high-speed home broadband service. Although this share has remained relatively stable in recent years, it is roughly double what it was in 2013 (8%).
People living in low-income households are especially likely to rely on their smartphones to get online. Stocks that fall into this category include:
- 28% of Americans have an annual income of less than $30,000
- 19% of Americans belong to households with an annual income of $30,000 to $69,999.
- 9% of Americans belong to households with an annual income of $70,000 to $99,999
- 4% of Americans live in households with an annual income of $100,000 or more
Adults with lower levels of formal education are also more likely to rely on smartphones. About a quarter (24%) of those with less than high school education use a mobile device to access the Internet, compared to 6% of college graduates.
Approximately one in five black or Hispanic adults relies on a smartphone, compared to a lower proportion of white adults.
What percentage of Americans are constantly online?
As the Internet has become central to Americans’ daily lives, 9 out of 10 U.S. adults now say they use it every day. This includes 41% of them who said they use the internet almost all the time.
However, some people, especially the youngest adults, are more likely than others to be constantly online. About 6 in 10 (62%) adults ages 18 to 29 say they are always online. In comparison, she included only 15% of adults aged 65 and older, with lower proportions in older age groups.
People with higher levels of education and household income are more likely to report being online most of the time. For example, about half (52%) of adults with a household income of at least $100,000 report using the Internet almost all the time. By comparison, those with annual household incomes of less than $100,000 have fewer than four children per 10 children.
Differences also emerge based on the type of community in which adults live. About half (48%) of people living in urban areas say they use the internet most of the time, compared to 43% of people living in suburban communities and 43% of people living in rural areas. 32%. .
