Fifth Study of the Internet by the Digital Future Project

The Fifth Study of the Internet by the Digital Future Project Finds Major New Trends in Online Use for Political Campaigns highlights the major findings in the Annenberg School’s Digital Future Project, which is studying the impact of the Internet on Americans. Among the findings were:


 * Internet access had risen to its highest level ever. In 2005, 78.6% of Americans go online.
 * The number of hours spent online continued to increase, rising to an average of 13.3 hours per week.
 * Almost two-thirds of Americans (66.2%) used the Internet at home in 2005, a substantial increase from the 46.9% of users who reported home Internet access in 2000.
 * Belief that the Internet can be a tool for learning about the political process continues to increase, with 60.4% of users and 34.6% of non-users agreeing that by using the Internet, people can better understand politics.
 * E-mail again tops the list of the most popular online activities. The top 10 for 2005 are: e-mail, general Web surfing, reading news, shopping, entertainment news (searching and reading), seeking information about hobbies, online banking, medical information (searching and reading), instant messaging, and seeking travel arrangements and travel information.