The growth of Internet use in the U.S. appears to be stalling, but not for the reasons one might expect, according to the results of a survey conducted by Parks Associates, a Dallas-based consumer-research firm.
Conventional wisdom holds that most of the 39 million American households without Internet access have stayed offline because of practical roadblocks: Either the cost of a computer is prohibitive, the home is too remote for an affordable connection, or the homeowners are outside the age range of most Web users. But the survey results suggest that a surprising number of people are staying off the Internet by choice: Of the 1,000 nonusers who responded, 24 percent said they make more than $50,000 a year, and 29 percent are under 44 years old. For some people, the lure of the Internet just isn’t strong enough to overcome the hassle of choosing the technology it takes to go online. (BusinessWeek)
