A Quarter Of Americans Never Hang Up

COMMENTARY

• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, Yesterday

According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January 2018, reported by Andrew Perrin and Jingjing Jiang, as smartphones and other mobile devices have become more widespread, 26% of American adults now report that they go online “almost constantly,” up from 21% in 2015, 

Including the 26% who go online almost constantly, the 43% who say they go online several times a day, and the 8% who go online about once a day, 77% of Americans go online on a daily basis, while 11% of adults say they do not use the internet at all.

Among mobile internet users, the 83% of Americans who use the internet at least occasionally, using a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device, 89% go online daily and 31% go online almost constantly. Among Americans who go online but notvia a mobile device, 54% go online daily, and just 5% say they go online almost constantly. One in four Americans, and 39% of these ages go online almost constantly.

Percent Of US Adults In Each Group Who Say Almost Constantly Online
Group	% Online Almost Constantly
US Adults	26%
Men	25%
Women	27
White	23%
Black	37
Hispanic	30
18-29	39%
30-49	36
50-64	17
65+	8
HS Grad or less	20%
Some college	28
College +	34
Less than $30K	24%
30-49.9K	27
$50-74.99	23
$75k or more	35%
Source: PEW survey Jan, 2018

Americans ages 30 to 49 are now about as likely as younger adults to use the internet almost constantly (36% versus 39%). The share of 30- to 49-year olds who say this has risen 12 percentage points since 2015. Meanwhile, the share of constantly online Americans ages 50 to 64 has risen from 12% to 17%.

Other demographic groups that report going online frequently include college-educated adults, black adults, adults who live in higher-income households and non-rural residents, says the report.

34% of adults with a college education or more go online almost constantly (and 92% go online daily), compared with 20% of adults with a high school education or less. At the same time, almost four-in-ten blacks report using the internet almost constantly, compared with 30% of Hispanics and 23% of whites. The share of blacks who are almost constantly online has risen 14 points since 2015, while the share of Hispanics who say this has gone up by 11 points. Among whites, there has been little change.

Finally, 35% of adults with an annual household income of $75,000 or more use the internet almost constantly, and 91% use it daily. Adults who live in urban and suburban areas are more likely to go online almost constantly than those who live in rural areas: 32% of adults living in urban areas and 27% living in suburban areas say this, compared with 15% of rural residents.