Feel like you’re pretty much never offline anymore? You have plenty of company, according to the Pew Research Center.
According to a new survey of 2001 Americans ages 18 years and older, roughly 21 percent of U.S. adults now report that they go online “almost constantly.” An even larger number – 42 percent – responded that they go online several times a day.
Tellingly, just 10 percent go online about once a day, and 13 percent of people say they go online several times a week or less often. (We are curious to meet these people! We bet they’re very interesting.)
Even though one-fifth of us feel like slaves to the interwebs, it’s particularly bad for younger adults. According to Pew, fully 36 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds say they’re online almost always, and half say that they’re jumping online multiple times a day.
About 24 percent of teenagers meanwhile say they’re “online constantly,” which is roughly in line with those in the 30-years-old-and-older camp.
The stats aren’t surprising, given that 75 percent of Americans now use a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device that can be used at almost any time to keep from engaging with the rest of humanity.
But here’s something: According to a separate Pew study published a little earlier this year, seven in 10 American adults have also read a book within the past year, whether in whole or in part. Fully 63 percent of those were even books in print.
