I’ve written in the past about the benefits of unplugging from the wired world. I, along with most of the people I know, believe the media stories about the rise of the Internet/technology, in spite of other stories such as, Why The Web Is Hitting A Wall (Business Week, March 2006).

But an article about a new survey by the Pew Research Center really drives home the point. Here it is in it’s entirety.

Are you an Internet “omnivore” or merely a “connector”?
A surprising new survey by the Pew Research Center found that half of Americans log on only occasionally — and even many avid Internet users are content to surf the Web the same way they did 10 years ago.

That’s not what researchers were expecting.

Reality versus hype
“We were struck by a couple of things in the survey,” says Lee Rainie,director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

For starters, only 8 percent of respondents are what Pew calls technology“omnivores,” or people who express themselves creatively online — whether by blogging, uploadsing homemade videos or helping others build Web sites.
These are people who tend to keep their cell phones on all the time and look at media on gadgets other than their TV or computer — and 8 percent “is a surprisingly low number” given all the business hype there has been about user-generated content, he says.

By the numbers
Behind the omnivores are:
“Connectors,” at 7 percent, who see the Internet and cell phones as communication tools and might use their gadgets more if they were easier to use.
“Lackluster veterans,” at 8 percent, who use technology but the thrill is gone. They are content to surf the ‘Net and send e-mails, but show little interest in using the Web to express themselves or in adopting mobile media.
“Productivity enhancers,” at 8 percent, who mostly use technology to keep up with their jobs and day-to-day life. For them, the blogosphere is just not important.

The bottom two-thirds
The next 20 percent are middle-of-the-road tech users, many of whom find connectivity to be intrusive, Pew found.
And then, a whopping 49 percent are “not weaving Internet use into their daily life,” Rainie says. These include people who don’t check their e-mail every day– or aren’t online at all.

What it means
The implications for technology providers are far-reaching. For starters,gadgets need to be easier to use, Rainie says. Also, many Web users are looking for help in navigating the ever-larger pool of information — or they may start feeling even more overloaded.

Details
The telephone survey of 4,001 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus2 percentage points.
Where do you fit in the tech spectrum? Take Pew’s quiz at: http://www.pewinternet.org/quiz/
Stephanie Hoo, Associated Press writer

I took the quiz, but found that it didn’t allow for the idea of what I call “use under protest,” i.e., using the Net the same way I drive a car—out of necessity and ignoring it the rest of the time. I don’t find that overwhelming, but the two choices are “Feel overloaded” and “Like having so much information available” and neither fits at all.

I don’t think that I’m the only one who feels this way, and it’s nice to know that “everybody is wired, but me” isn’t true, I have lots of company in spite my functioning among a pack of omnivores.

What about you? Go ahead. Take the quiz and then decide, first, if it fits, and second, if that’s where you want to be.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Business info, Communication, Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.