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7% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they?

pewresearch.org

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Re: 7% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they?

#401

Post by toss1 »

tclancy wrote: post #390
toss1 wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK about FB, I always avoided it like a toxic plague. But on Twitter, there seem to still be work-arounds. I use lists set to Private, curated for specific experts on particular topics, and many top and/or obscure experts post regularly. This provides a reasonably straightforward chronological feed, curated to my interest, with well-tuned news and links to key analysis. Just NEVER use the main Home feed (which they…

I don't know what to say to stuff like this. I spent a ton of time treating Twitter the same way and in no way do I want to suggest that I am now enlightened or something, but when you hear people (and I include my past self in this) talk about Twitter, it's like they're talking about a really effective chainsaw where there's no guard and the handle is on the wrong end. You can use it to cut down trees if you figure…

Good point, and great chainsaw analogy

Constant curation and management is indeed everything. And I remember at my first encounter with real computers in college, when I had a choice of editors, I went for the one with the most powerful features, despite the stated hazards.

I do assume that the audience here tends to the more capable end, so most of them would not be in that 99%, but perhaps I'm mistaken?

Re: 7% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they?

#402

Post by tclancy »

toss1 wrote: post #401
tclancy wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what to say to stuff like this. I spent a ton of time treating Twitter the same way and in no way do I want to suggest that I am now enlightened or something, but when you hear people (and I include my past self in this) talk about Twitter, it's like they're talking about a really effective chainsaw where there's no guard and the handle is on the wrong end. You can use it to cut down trees if you figure…

Good point, and great chainsaw analogy Constant curation and management is indeed everything. And I remember at my first encounter with real computers in college, when I had a choice of editors, I went for the one with the most powerful features, despite the stated hazards. I do assume that the audience here tends to the more capable end, so most of them would not be in that 99%, but perhaps I'm mistaken?

Every community thinks it's Lake Wobegon. This place is no more above average than anywhere else AFAIK. That said, thanks for reminding me of this! http://www.team.net/mjb/hawg.html

Re: 7% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they?

#403

Post by toss1 »

tclancy wrote: post #402
toss1 wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point, and great chainsaw analogy Constant curation and management is indeed everything. And I remember at my first encounter with real computers in college, when I had a choice of editors, I went for the one with the most powerful features, despite the stated hazards. I do assume that the audience here tends to the more capable end, so most of them would not be in that 99%, but perhaps I'm mistaken?

Every community thinks it's Lake Wobegon. This place is no more above average than anywhere else AFAIK. That said, thanks for reminding me of this! http://www.team.net/mjb/hawg.html

Ah yes, perspective -- "...that's not a knife... That's a knife"

Re: 7% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they?

#404

Post by protomyth »

mywittyname wrote: post #345
protomyth wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm betting a lot of rural folks have better internet than those in Silicon Valley. Given I live and work among the poor, rural, and forgotten and the internet (Facebook, Netflix) is being used all the time, I doubt the geography aspect. I do want to see this studies raw questions/ data gathering.

So, I have lots of family that live in rural areas. Rural being defined as can't see the neighbor's house + unpaved roads off of roads named with only three numbers (ie, take 765 to 321, turn left on 997, keep an eye out for the fence on the left) + no sewage + 1+hr commutes to Walmart or Dollar General. Their internet availability is satellite. They have phone lines, but are too far out for DSL. Some have cable, so…

You're probably thinking more of the exurbs. Houses with like 1-5 acres of land off of a county highway or something.

No, I'm thinking of North Dakota. We seem to have really good internet in a lot of places. The rural electric cooperatives have made real efforts at laying fiber.

Re: 7% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they?

#405

Post by protomyth »

neallindsay wrote: post #287
protomyth wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm betting a lot of rural folks have better internet than those in Silicon Valley. Given I live and work among the poor, rural, and forgotten and the internet (Facebook, Netflix) is being used all the time, I doubt the geography aspect. I do want to see this studies raw questions/ data gathering.

There are definitely rural areas that have excellent internet service available. I grew up in a small town that happened to be a test market for Time Warner cable internet (RoadRunner) when it came out in the 1990s. However, there's rural and there's rural . Some people live places where the cable company would have to run miles of copper just to service a single house . If you're living so far out and also poor, you…

I think more states need to push the electric companies into getting into to internet. Rural electric cooperatives seem to love laying fiber.
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