A few days ago, the Pew Research Center released a report that Americans are looking online to fight the recession. On Tuesday it added that most of us are doing that via wireless Internet.
The results of the center's Internet & American Life Project survey show that 56 percent of adult Americans have accessed the Internet via wireless means, such as a Wi-Fi laptop, a mobile device, a game console, or an MP3 player. The most popular way people get online wirelessly is with a laptop computer, numbering 39 percent of some 2,200 survey participants.
The report also revealed the rising levels of Americans using the Internet on a mobile handset. Almost one-third (32 percent) have used a cell phone or a smartphone to access the Internet for e-mailing, instant messaging, or reading news.
For comparison, only 24 percent of Americans had done this by December 2007. Now, in a typical day, nearly one-fifth (19 percent) of Americans use the Internet on a mobile device, up substantially from the 11 percent level recorded in December 2007.
The cell phone's main purpose as a voice device has changed substantially. According to the report, in 2009, 69 percent say that they have used the cell phone for at least one of the non-voice activities.
These activities include text messaging, taking a picture, playing a game, accessing the Internet, recording video, instant messaging, playing music, getting maps or directions, and watching video. Back in 2007, only 58 percent did this.
The usage of of non-voice activities on a typical day has also increased from only 32 percent in 2007 to 44 percent in 2009. Half of Americans now think that the ability to access the Internet via their mobile devices is vital to how they stay in touch with people.
These changes in the way we access the Internet are hardly surprising, especially with the proliferation in recent years of smartphones that come with advanced Internet capabilities, such as the iPhone or the Palm Pre.
Personally, I read most of my e-mails via my iPhone 3G and I use it mostly for non-voice purposes. How about you?
Rachael was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. After surgery and beginning the onslaught of radiation therapy, she went online to search for information--"lurking," she calls it. What she found was much more than scientific information about her disease.
"Here was a community of ladies who had been there, done that," she said. "A real treat when you are overwhelmed and stressed to your limits."
Now, six years later, Rachael (who for purposes of anonymity prefers not to use her last name) is an active member of health information site WebMD. She checks in several times throughout the day and has written literally thousands of posts on medical information, personal experiences, or simple consolatory messages.
She's also just one the 61 percent of American adults who look online for medical advice and information, according to "The Social Life of Health Information," a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation.
This report shows that more Americans are reading commentaries about medical issues, consulting rankings or reviews of doctors, or listening to health-related podcasts.
A smaller group of so-called e-patients, 20 percent, actively post comments and reviews on different online list-servs, blogs, or message boards. Rachael, for example, fits into this group. "We are beginning to see e-patients turning to interactive features both to help them find information tailored to their needs and to post their own contributions," said Susannah Fox, co-author of the report and associate director of Pew's Internet & American Life Project.
In 2000, 25 percent of American adults looked online for health information. Now, it's more than double and the majority are happy with the results they find, according to the report. Only a small portion of e-patients, 3 percent, say they or someone they know has been harmed by following medical advice found on the Internet.
It seems only natural that more people are turning to the Internet for health information because the entire medical landscape is also beginning to go digital. Hospitals and insurance companies, like Kaiser Permanente, are moving toward entirely paperless digital-only records, and in February, President Obama signed a stimulus bill that gives $19 billion to hospitals to improve their technology efforts.
Also, online health digitization goes hand-in-hand with social networking. Sydney Jones, co-author of the report and research assistant at the Pew Internet Project, points out that "the early Internet provided e-patients online tools that enabled research. Now the mobile, social Internet enables connection and conversation." These online conversations can be with other patients, doctors, pharmacists, and other health care providers.
Even though more Americans are using social networking or looking online for health-related information, the Internet still comes in third (tied with books) for sources that people turn to for assistance. According to the report, people are still going to doctors first and talking to friends or family members second.
"They treat the Internet as a supplement to traditional sources of information," said Fox, "using blogs, podcasts, and other online resources to deepen their understanding of a condition and sharpen their questions for a health professional."
In essence, this is why Rachael was drawn to her online community, she found an enhancement to the traditional information she was getting. "These individuals held out their hands to 'newbies,' gave all shoulders to cry on," she said. "Finding all the members not only receptive, but giving and caring kept me returning."
Here I am using my two unread newspapers as a thick place mat for my Christmas Eve Chinese lunch, and what should cross my desk: a new Pew study showing that the Internet has surpassed newspapers as Americans' main source for national and international news.
How appropriate--albeit a little sad for this ol' school journalist who still romanticizes about the days when you could truly stop the presses.
(Credit:
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press)
Some 40 percent of those surveyed by Pew Research for the People & the Press say they get most of their international and national news from the Internet, up from 24 percent in September 2007. Internet coverage of the presidential campaign--much of it buoyed by social networks--was likely the reason for that recent growth.
(Credit:
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press)
TV, however, continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for international and national news, according the study.
Other interesting findings of Pew's News Interest Index are the top news stories of 2008. The economy took the top spot, followed by rising gas prices and the debate over the Wall Street bailout.
Click here (PDF) for more details on the study.
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