August 27, 2007
The Broadband Divide
The Pew Internet and American Life Project August report on "Why It Will Be Hard to Close the Broadband Divide," suggests that when you look at the data on Americans without broadband at home, it will take time to get these holdouts off the digital sidelines.
Every six months, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) releases its rankings of per capita broadband adoption rates. Every six months, the United States sees its ranking uncomfortably in the middle of the pack.
According to the Pew Internet Project’s February 2007 survey, 47% of American adults have broadband at home, nearly double the 24% penetration level of three years earlier. 
With home broadband penetration poised to surpass 50% this year, it will have taken 9 years from the time the service became widely available for home high-speed to reach half the population. To put this in context, it took 10 years for the compact disc player to reach 50% of
consumers, 15 years for cell phones, and 18 years for color TV. Each of those technologies, like broadband, represented an upgrade from a good or service with which most consumers had experience.
Non-internet users
Non-internet users as a group are disproportionately old and poor. The median age of non-internet users is 59, and 25% report having household incomes under $20,000 per year. It is not, however, simply a question of money or age. Non-internet users do not have very positive attitudes about information technology. Many report worries about information overload and few link information technology to greater control over their lives. Moreover, non-internet users are apt to see the online environment as a dangerous place – that is, a place with inappropriate or irrelevant content. Given that these non-users are people with worries about information technology and not a lot of extra disposable income, luring them online won’t be an easy task.
Posted by rsk at August 27, 2007 09:08 AM