USC Annenberg School for Communication – 2008 Digital Future Projecy.

Are Americans becoming more concerned about the role the Internet plays in children’s lives?

The 2008 Digital Future Project has identified several sobering trends in views about going online — in particular in adults’ opinions about Internet use by children.

“In general, opinions about the Internet remain overwhelmingly positive,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “But after seven years of tracking the impact of the Internet, we are also seeing evolving trends which show that adults view some aspects of going online by children to be as troubling as their use of other media — or even potentially dangerous.”

The 2008 Digital Future Project found that:

* The percentage of adults who said that the children in their households spend too much time using the Internet reached 25 percent of respondents — an increase for the third year in a row and the highest percentage yet reported in the seven years of Digital Future Project studies.

* A small percentage of adults (13 percent) said that the children in their households spend less time with friends, but that percentage increased for the third year in a row — another new high for the Digital Future Project

* The number of adults who said that the grades of the children in their household has declined since the household started to use the Internet has grown for the second year in a row.

* In a new question for the 2008 study, more than half of adults (53 percent) said that online predators are a threat to the children in their households. Only 24 percent of adults with children in their household disagreed with that statement.

* In another new question, almost two-thirds of adults (63 percent) are uncomfortable with the children in their households participating in online communities. Only 15 percent of adults are comfortable with children participating in online communities.

The findings about adult views of children’s online behavior and more than 100 other issues are published by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, the comprehensive annual examination conducted since 2000 on the impact of online technology on America.

The Digital Future Project surveys more than 2,000 individuals across the United States, each year contacting the same households to explore how online technology affects the lives of Internet users and non-users. It also examines how changing technology, such as the shift from Internet access by modem to broadband, affects behavior.

The Internet: foremost as an information source

In spite of some shifting views among adults about children and the Internet, the overall responses to the Digital Future Project continue to supply a broad range of strongly positive views about the benefits of Internet use — especially about its value as an information source, and its growing use for involvement in online communities.

The Digital Future Report found that the Internet is perceived by users to be a more important source of information for them — this over all other principal media, including television, radio, newspapers, and books.

Eighty percent of Internet users age 17 and older consider the Internet to be an important source of information for them — up from 66 percent in 2006 — and higher than television (68 percent), radio (63 percent), and newspapers (63 percent).

Online Communities: The Social Effects Grow

The Digital Future Project found profound social impact produced by growing participation in online communities.

The Digital Future Project found that membership in online communities has more than doubled in only three years. More than half of online community members (54 percent) log into their community at least once a day, and 71 percent of members said their community is very important or extremely important to them. Fifty-six percent of members reported meeting their online counterparts in person.

The study found that participation in online community membership has particularly dramatic effects on participation in social causes. Three-quarters of online community members said they use the Internet to participate in communities related to social causes, with 40 percent saying that they use the Internet at least monthly to participate in such communities. Eighty-seven percent of online community members are participating in social causes that are new to them since their involvement in online communities began.

And, a large and growing percentage of members — now 55 percent — say they feel as strongly about their online communities as they do about their real-world communities.

“Clearly, the growth of online communities is opening a range of opportunities for social connection, involvement and communication that could not have been anticipated even five years ago,” Cole said.

“The emergence of online communities is demonstrating that opportunities to be involved in common projects and idea sharing about any subject we choose and with people anywhere on Earth is possible and practical,” Cole said.

The Internet and politics: mixed opinions

The Digital Future Project found a range of contrasting views about the impact of the Internet in the political process.

For example, almost two-thirds of users (64 percent) agree that the Internet has become important for political campaigns, and more than half of users age 16 or older (55 percent) said that using the Internet allows people to better understand politics.

However, even as the Internet’s role in political campaigning and candidate communication has increased dramatically, only small numbers of users believe that the Internet is a catalyst for political change: less than one-quarter of users (22 percent) believe that the Internet is a tool to encourage public officials to care more about what people think, while only 28 percent agree that using the Internet gives people more of a say in what government does. And the percentage of users who said that the Internet gives people more political power has remained about 30 percent for two years.

In a new question for the Digital Future Project, respondents were asked about their interest in voting online. Among respondents 16 and older, 41 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed with this statement, while 37 percent agreed or strongly agreed.

The Center for the Digital Future: seven years of exploring the digital realm

The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication created and organizes the World Internet Project, which includes the Digital Future Project and similar studies in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.

The Digital Future Project provides a broad year-to-year exploration of the influence of the Internet and online technology on Americans. Since 2000, the project has examined the behavior and views of a national sample of Internet users and non-users, as well as comparisons between new users (1.5 years or less of experience) and very experienced users (more than 10 years of experience).

The project also explores differences in online behavior among users of telephone modems compared to broadband.

Highlights: The 2008 Digital Future Project – Year Seven

Among the key findings on more than 100 major issues, the 2008 Digital Future Project found:

America on the Internet

Hours Online — The number of hours online per week continues to increase – rising to an average of 15.3 hours per week, up by more than one hour per week from 2006, and the highest level in the Digital Future studies.

Top 10 Most Popular Online Purchases (Users Who Have Purchased Online) — The 10 most popular online purchases are books, clothes, travel arrangements, gifts, CDs, videos, electronic goods, software/games, products for hobbies, and computers/peripherals.

Activities On The Internet: How Often? — How frequently do Internet users participate in the most popular online activities? In the current Digital Future Project, these percentages of Internet users were involved in these activities at least weekly: e-mail (96 percent), Internet surfing without a specific destination (71 percent), looking for news online (60 percent), finding product information (43 percent), conducting online banking or other financial services (38 percent), instant messaging (37 percent), playing online games (35 percent), searching for humorous content (25 percent),

In a new question for the Digital Future Project, 16 percent of Internet users said they go online to find or check a fact at least daily, while seven percent of users go online daily or more often to look up the definition of a word.

What Is Your Home Page? — A growing number of Internet users select a search engine for their home page. Twenty-one percent of Internet users said that their home page is a search page such as Google — more than double the response in 2005. Declining in the current study is the percentage of users who use an Internet portal — such as Yahoo, America Online, or MSN — as their home page.

What Is Your Destination After Your Home Page? — In a new question for the Digital Future Project, Internet users were asked where they go online after they log in and land on their home page. Almost half of users (47 percent) and the largest percentage by far said that their next destination is their e-mail account.

Internet Connection At Home: Telephone Modem Use Continues To Decline

For the seventh consecutive year, access to the Internet at home through a telephone modem continued to decline, and now represents less than one-quarter of all online access from home. More than three-quarters of home Internet access was through a broadband connection, an increase of 25 percent in one year.

In spite of tremendous growth in broadband use, more than half of new users access the Internet through a telephone modem.

Broadband: Is It Always On At Home? — In a new question for the Digital Future Project, broadband users were asked if they kept their broadband connection on most of the time while they are at home. More than two-thirds of broadband users — 68 percent — agreed with this statement.

Working Computers: How Many At Home? — The number of American homes that have more than one working computer increased substantially over 2006 and 2005. In the current study, 43 percent of users said they have more than one working computer.

Internet Access By Cell Phone And Wireless Computer — The use of cell phones and computers equipped with wireless cards for Internet access continued to increase to their highest levels thus far in the Digital Future Project.

Internet Non-Users

Internet Non-Users: Reasons For Not Being Online? — Americans who do not go online continue to offer several explanations for not using the Internet, and all of the four major reasons are increasing in prevalence.

Will Internet Dropouts Return To Internet Use? — The number of Internet dropouts who said they will go back online declined to the lowest level in the five years this question has been asked in the Digital Future Project.

Internet Non-Users: Views About Not Going Online — Respondents who do not use the Internet report a variety of disadvantages about not being online, such as being excluded from communications, feeling disadvantaged during job transitions, or having difficulty obtaining information for their jobs or personal interests.

Non-Users: Will They Go Online? — Of the respondents in the current study who are non-users, 46 percent said they are somewhat likely or very likely to go online next year – up from 40 percent in 2006. The percentage of respondents who said they are not likely at all to use the Internet in the next year dropped to 54 percent of non-users — near the lowest level in the seven years of the Digital Future Project.

Media Use and Trust

Television And The Internet: Importance As Sources Of Information And Entertainment — After seven years of studying online behavior and attitudes, the Digital Future Report found that the Internet is perceived by users to be a more important source of information for them — this over all other principal media, including television, radio, newspapers, and books.

Information Online: Is It Reliable? — In the current Digital Future Project, 46 percent of Internet users said that most or all of the information online is generally reliable — this compared to 43 percent of non-users who gave the same response.

Online Information: Reliability And Accuracy Of Frequently-Visited Web Sites

Steadily increasing percentages of Internet users find high degrees of reliability and accuracy on their favorite Web sites. Eighty-three percent of users said that most or all of the information on Web sites they visit regularly is reliable and accurate — the same percentage as in 2006 and slightly higher than 81 percent in 2005.

Media Web Pages: Reliability And Accuracy — Internet users continue to report high levels of reliability and accuracy for Web pages posted by established media, such as The New York Times and CNN. Among all users, 80 percent said that most or all of the information posted on media Web sites is reliable and accurate — up from 77 percent in 2006.

Search Engines: Reliability And Accuracy — A higher percentage of Internet users reported negative views about the reliability and accuracy of information provided by search engines, such as Google. Slightly over half of Internet users — 51 percent — said that most or all of the information produced by search engines is reliable and accurate — down from the 62 percent who reported the same response in 2006.

Time-Shifting Of TV Viewing — A large minority of respondents are time-shifting their TV viewing.

In a new question for the Digital Future Project, 29 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “I often watch television shows that have been recorded with a VCR or a digital video recorder such as Tivo.”

Media Online: New Users And Very Experienced Users — New users and very experienced users report wide differences in use of a variety of online media. New users spend considerably more time online playing computer games — an average of 1.2 hours per week more than very experienced users. Very experienced users spend more time than new users reading online newspapers, books, and magazines, and listening to online radio.

Would You Miss The Print Edition Of Your Newspaper? — In a new question, respondents who read print editions of newspapers were asked if they would miss the offline edition if it was no longer available.

While more than half of respondents (52 percent) expressed some level of agreement with this question, 27 percent disagreed.

Does Online Content Lead To Cancelled Print Subscriptions? — Twenty-one percent of Internet users agreed that they have stopped a subscription for a newspaper or magazine because they now get the same or related content online.

Posting Information Online — Distributing original content created by Internet users — whether through a blog, display of photos, or maintaining a personal Web page — continued to increase. In the current Digital Future Project, 41 percent of Internet users said they post photos online — an almost fourfold increase in only four years. Smaller but steadily growing percentages of users said they maintain their own Web site or keep a personal blog.

Consumer Behavior

Who Is Buying Online? — The number of online purchasers has increased to the highest level in the history of the Digital Future Project, increasing 16 percent since 2006.

Purchasing On The Internet: Spending Per Month — Sixty percent of Internet users age 18 and older bought online and spent under $100 a month, a large increase over 2006.

How Often Do Online Purchasers Buy Online? — The average number of annual online purchases for those age 18 and above increased to its peak thus far in the Digital Future Project — now more than 36 purchases per year.

How Does Buying Online Affect Traditional Retail Purchasing? — A large percentage of online purchasers reported that their Web purchases have reduced their buying of similar items in retail stores. After a small decline in 2006, the percentage who said that Web purchasing reduced their local retail purchasing somewhat or a lot grew to 67 percent of online purchasers, up from 65 percent in 2006.

Browsing For Products: Retail Stores Vs. The Internet — Large percentages of respondents report using both the Internet and retail stores for browsing and purchasing. Seventy-one percent of Internet purchasers said they sometimes or often browse in traditional retail locations and then buy online. Even higher percentages of respondents said they use the Internet as a merchandise browsing tool before buying in stores.

Privacy: Concerns When Buying Online — Privacy and security online have been found to be major concerns in each of the seven Digital Future studies. Almost all respondents have reported concerns about the privacy of their personal information when or if they buy on the Internet. The percentage of all respondents who reported the highest level of concern increased in 2007, and overall concern was the highest since the first year of the Digital Future Project.

Privacy: Comparing Concerns Among Non-Purchasers Vs. Purchasers — Although the percentage of all users who report the highest level of concern continues to be quite large, comparing Internet purchasers to non-purchasers shows that online buyers report much lower levels of concern.

Credit Card Information: Are Concerns Stabilizing? — Concerns about credit card security when or if buying online continue to remain high among respondents in the Digital Future Project. Although the percentage of those with the highest level of concern about credit card information increased slightly to 57 percent, the overall levels of concern have stabilized over the four most current years of the study — and at a much lower level than when this issue was first tracked in 2001.

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