Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tl00015)

the rate of increase of users of Internet is very interesting.
mkr
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As reported in an AP report:
"Women over 50 among fastest-growing Internet groups" "Once the domain of
the young and technically inclined, the Internet increasingly is taking
root with a wide cross-section of Americans." 

"Among the fastest-growing groups online were blacks and Indians, as well
as young adults 16-24 and women over 50.  The study showed an increase of
50 percent in the number of American women over 50 using the Internet
during the nine months ending in June, accounting for nearly 5 million
users. The numbers of men under 50 using the Internet grew almost half as
fast during the same period. 

.the study estimated that 70.2 million Americans over 16 use the
        Internet. That represents 35 percent of adult Americans... 

And for the first time, the report said, the majority of Americans between
16-24 are using the Internet -- about 18.8 million of them, including 70
percent of men in that age group and 51 percent of women. 

"I'm still pretty new to it," confessed Diane Park, a social
   worker near Seattle and an Internet neophyte who logs on from her local
                                   library." 

But a closer look at the figures showed the largest gains in Internet use
among some minorities: Asian adults were especially active online, with the
highest rates of all racial groups: 58 percent of Asian men and 38 percent
of Asian women. Among blacks, the report estimated 24 percent use the
Internet, an increase of 53 percent from nine months earlier. The report
estimated that 868,000 American Indians were online, or 24 percent, an
increase of 70 percent over nine months. 
Last month, a report from the Commerce Department showed that whites are
more than twice as likely to own a home computer as blacks or Hispanics,
and that a racial disparity in PC ownership exists even among families
earning more than $75,000.