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A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project says American Net users have become more purposeful, efficient, and self-assured in using the Web and e-mail to support some of life's most important tasks.
The new report, "Getting Serious On-line," says that as Americans gain experience on-line, they use the Internet more for their jobs, to make more on-line purchases and carry out other financial transactions, and to write e-mails with more significant and intimate content. "They are beginning to take it for granted, but they can't imagine life without it," claims Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
According to Pew, 53 percent of users have shopped on-line compared to 47 percent in 2000. The proportion that have purchased travel services has grown from 34 percent to 42 percent and the number who have done on-line banking grew from 17 percent to 23 percent in the one year period.
The report says that Internet users now spend around 83 minutes on-line in a typical session, seven minutes less than they did a year earlier. And although they spend less time on the Net, the report shows that users are spending more time sampling different kinds of activities on-line such as shopping, news reading, banking and holiday planning.
"This all suggests that they learn what they value on-line and how to go about finding it. Their on-line habits become more directed and efficient, allowing them to get what they need in shorter order than before," the report said.
The greatest consequence of this efficiency comes in television viewing, with one-quarter of Internet users claiming that surfing the Internet has led to a decrease in TV time. For the Internet's most experienced users (those who have been on-line for three or more years), this number rises to 31 percent.
Meanwhile, 29 percent of users say their Internet use has resulted in their spending less time shopping in stores, and 14 percent say they spend less time reading off-line newspapers.
But the Net is leading 14 percent of users to spend more hours working at home, and 10 percent say it has caused them to spend more time in the office, the report claims.
According to the survey, greater use of the Internet at work is a major reason for these trends, with 55 million users in the US accessing the Net at work compared to 43 million in 2000. The authors of the report claim that 36 percent of Americans with Internet access on the job do work-related research with it, compared to 25 percent previously.
The report also says that 51 million Americans had e-mailed family members for advice, up from 30 million in 2000, with similar figures for advice requests from friends.
"It's easy to see how people take advantage of a growing network," says John B. Horrigan, senior research specialist with the Pew Internet Project. "Each friend who gets Internet access and each grandmother who sends her first e-mail builds the community of Internet users. The larger the community gets, the more likely it is that people will turn to e-mail to share intimate and crucial communications."
The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a US-based independent research organisation funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Its purpose is to study the impact of the Internet on families, communities, health care, education, civic and political life, and the work place. Its latest report was carried out over a one-year period between March 2000 and 2001, in conjunction with Princeton Survey Research Associates.
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