Two-thirds of cell-phone
owning Americans use their phones to surf the Web and check e-mail,
according to the latest study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That's double the amount from 2009, when only 31% of people said they used their phones to go online.
For a growing segment of
people, phones aren't just a secondary way to check the news or send off
a quick e-mail. According to Pew, 21% of phone owners use their devices
as their primary way of accessing the Internet, more than PCs and
tablets.
Since Pew began tracking
Internet and phone usage in 2009, the numbers have steadily risen
year-over-year. First there were the youthful early adopters, then it
spread to older age groups. This year, biggest jump in online
phone-owners was among 50- to 64-year-olds.
The groups most likely to
own a smartphone are still the same people who are most likely to
access the Internet from their phones. The tech-savvy 18- to 29-year-old
set is the most likely to go online from a phone, as are people with a
college degree or higher, or people making more than $75,000 a year.
Mobile Web use also is
higher among minorities. Three-quarters of African-American and 68% of
Hispanic phone owners are going online from their handsets, while just
59% of white phone owners are doing the same.
A whopping 91% of American adults have cell phones and a little more than half of those are smartphones.
Smartphones are built for
accessing the Internet and apps -- so much so that making a phone call
on the devices can seem like an afterthought. Touchscreen Android, iOS,
Blackberry and Windows Phone devices are replacing one-trick feature
phones, and are changing the way Americans access the Internet in the
process.
Each year smartphones get
faster, the screens sharper and apps better. Internet connections are
also speeding up, both though cellular networks and available Wi-Fi
networks.
Not every phone owner
uses a fancy smartphone to surf the Web, however. People are also going
online from their feature phones between texting, phone calls and games
of "Snake." Surfing the Web on these devices is an impressive feat given
the limited controls available.
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