Internet Becomes More Mainstream.

Of U.S. adults who regularly use the Internet, the number who did not attend college rose 116% from the spring of 1997 to spring 2002, according to the latest consumer data from Mediamark Research (MRI) Inc. During the same period, the number of regular users of the Internet who attended college decreased by 19%.

The data, culled from in-home interviews with 26,000 adults, suggest that further growth in Internet usage will come at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

This is intuitive, says Anne Marie Kelly, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI. “The earliest Internet users were young professional men, followed by ‘early adopters’ who typically have advanced education and high disposable income. The Internet has moved beyond being a medium for a few to one that’s becoming integrated into consumers’ daily lives. Our usage numbers reflect that change.”

In the spring of 1997, 85.79% of U.S. adults who said they had used the Internet in the last 30 days had attended college, versus 14.21% who had not attended. This spring, 69.35% of regular Internet users had attended college while 30.66% had not.

Likewise, five years ago, 44.58% of regular Internet users had a professional/executive occupation. By the spring of 2002, this figure had fallen to 31.45%. Among regular users of the Internet in spring 1997, 75.52% were employed full-time. The corresponding figure for spring 2002 is 66.74%.