By Timothy Kudo
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Young and old, men and women of every race and ethnicity use the
Internet more and more to shop, to play and to communicate.
More than two-thirds of Americans use the Internet today,
according to a UCLA study released Wednesday.
Although the report, titled “The UCLA Internet Report:
Surveying the Digital Future,” did not address the
“digital divide,” which describes the decreased access
minorities and the poor have to the Internet, the researchers plan
to discuss this problem in their continuing investigation.
Preliminary results, however, point to a lessening divide, said
Jeffrey Cole, director of UCLA’s Center for Communication
Policy, which released the report.
“If you look at the last million people to go online,
there are a higher percentage of blacks, Latinos and women than in
the first million,” said Cole, the founder of the World
Internet Project.
The expectation is that Internet population demographics will
mirror those of the United States in years to come, he said.
“It’s moving to the mainstream in America,” he
said.
Out of the third of the population that still doesn’t use
the Internet, 37.7 percent said it was because of a lack of
computer or terminal access to the Internet.
But, Cole noted that differences in the way the Internet is used
may lead to a divide of a different sort.
“Certain people, at universities and other places, have a
better idea as to where the information is,” Cole said.
Still, a third of those not accessing the Internet remain
off-line because they have no interest in it; a group largely
consisting of older people.
For many who don’t use the Internet, “Going out to
eat, going to see movies, whatever it is they do in their lives,
they by and large think is just fine,” Cole said.
“There’s also this oddball group that is proud not to
be on the Internet.”
But that is mostly an American phenomenon, Cole said.
The majority of Internet users first became connected only in
the past four years, with more than half of all users connecting
within the past two years.
Additionally, Internet use ranges from 5-10 hours a week for
those aged 12-24, with an average online time of 9.42 hours a
week.
“My little brother uses it for e-mail, to play games
online and for research,” said Sema Dhindaw, a third-year
biology student. “I use it for the same thing except I
don’t have the time to play games.”
“When we were his age, we didn’t have it for
research so we went to the library,” she continued.
“Nobody goes to the library anymore.”
The study showed Internet usage resulted in grade improvements
in 26.2 percent of children. Only 3.3 percent reported a
decline.
As a sign of the changing times, denial of Internet privileges
is being used by 30.6 percent of families to punish children, the
report found.
As the Internet has become more ingrained into everyday life, it
has taken the place of other activities, most notably ““
television, Cole said.
But, he noted that in some respects, exactly how people
redistribute their time may be difficult to explain.
“We showed that non-users exercise about four hours a week
and users exercise about 4.5 hours a week,” Cole said.
“But without the Internet they might be exercising eight
hours a week.”
The report was the result of nine months of field research after
nearly four years of planning. The researchers plan to re-question
the 2,096 people interviewed in 21 countries every year to document
their change in Internet use.
“We’re tracking a generation,” Cole said.
Policy-makers, corporate entities involved in the study, and
UCLA representatives are set to meet in Washington, D.C., on Nov.
30 to examine the political implications of the study.
TOP 10 INTERNET ACTIVITIES 10. Playing games
33.0% 9. Finding medical information 36.% 8. Using instant
messaging 39.6% 7. Finding travel information 45.8% 6. Buying
online 51.7% 5. Finding entertainment information 54.3% 4. Reading
news 56.6% 3. Finding hobby information 57.2% 2. E-mail 81.6%
1. Web surfing or browsing 81.7%
SOURCE: The UCLA Internet Report: "Surveying the Digital Future"
Original by VICTOR CHEN Web Adaption by MONICA KWONG/Daily Bruin
Senior Staff