The number of U.S. adults who are online has increased ten percent in the past year, amounting to an estimated 178 million online users according to a new poll from Harris Interactive.
The survey polled 2,062 adults in July and October, found that 79 percent of adults are now online. That is a steady increase over the past few years, from 77 percent in February/April 2006, 74 percent in February/April 2005, 66 percent in the spring of 2002, and 57 percent in spring of 200. When Harris Interactive first began tracking Internet use in 1995, only nine percent of adults said they went online.
“We’re up to almost 80 of adults who now are online, or are somehow gaining access to the Internet. That’s a pretty impressive figure,” Regina Corso, director of the Harris Poll told Reuters.
The amount of time people are spending online has also increased. The average number of hours per week that people are spending online has risen to 11 hours, up from 9 hours in 2006 and 8 hours in 2005.
The number of adults who are online at home has increased to 72 percent, up from 70 percent in 2006 and 66 percent in 2005. The percentage of people online at work has increased to 37 percent, up from 35 percent in 2006. The biggest increase of adults who are online are among those who use an alternative location besides work or home, up from 22 percent in 2006 to 31 percent today.
According to the poll younger adults still lead when it comes to going online, but nine percent of those that go online are 65 years old or older, compared to 16 percent of all adults who are 65 and over.
Corso said that examining how people are getting online was the next step. “It’s not just a laptop or a desktop anymore. How many of these people are using some kind of hand held device for all of their online activity?”
