Pew Research's recent report on "Technology & Media Use," (PDF) presents some interesting details on user adoption of "information and communication technology" (Pew Research's term). The report focuses on the number of users of the Internet and cell phones with an emphasis on rich media experiences, basically what could be described as adoption of "Web 2.0" technologies.
There are some interesting nuggets, such as only 15% of the U. S. population don't have a cell phone or Internet connectivity, and as you'd expect that segment is generally older with low income levels. A story on Tech Crunch talks about the report as an assessment of the digital divide, which seems to be an overstatement, although technology adoption could be higher.
The interesting result, depending on how you view the data, is that between 50 and 64% put some value on connectedness and interactivity. There's really only 11% that have connectivity and technology but don't view it as central to their lives and 10% that feel it's a hassle. The heavy users of technology comprise 31% of the American's surveyed and are defined as Elite Tech Users.
The raw questionnaire data is also available here. The question responses go back to early 2000 and there's definitely a slow steady increase in the number of users accessing the Internet regularly and the frequency with which they access the Internet.
Michael Caton, Collaboration Evangelist, WebEx
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