A recent study indicates that 42% of the population of the United States never visits internet. Although internet seems to have become a part of American life, a large segment of the population is being left out. But the study points out that for many Americans it’s just a case of not wanting to visit internet. The survey was carried out by the Pew Interest & American Life Project in Washington. The survey, which was based on a poll of 3,553 Americans in the spring of 2002, places the majority of the non-users in three basic categories:
- "Truly disconnected" (24 percent): These are the traditional have-nots, lacking a computer or the ability to ask someone else to log on for them.
- "Net evaders" (20 percent): They live in homes that are wired to log onto the Net, but they ask family members to download their e-mail or search the Web for them.
- "Net dropouts" (17 percent): These are users who have walked away from the Internet and don't intend to return. Some blame a malfunctioning computer or problems with Internet service providers, but others simply don't like what they encounter online.
The Pew report notes that though more Americans have migrated onto the Internet over the past 18 months, the growth rate has leveled off. That slowdown could be because disgruntled users are dropping out as fast as newcomers log on.
