The 2000 U.S. Census questionnaires asked many questions that
were not asked of our ancestors a century or two ago. Now the U.S. Census Bureau
is releasing some of that information. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans recently
released new census data showing that more than half of American households
and more than half of all Americans are now connected to the Internet.
The figures were part of "A Nation Online," a new study
using census data to track Internet usage in the United States. As of September
2001, 143 million Americans, or about 54 percent of the population, were using
the Internet, and new users were adopting the technology at a rate of more than
two million per month.
The report says 90 percent, or 47.4 million, of children between
the ages of 5 and 17 now use computers at home and at school. Seventy-five percent
of 14- to 17-year-olds and 65 percent of 10- to 13-year-olds use the Internet.
Households with children younger than 18 are more likely to access
the Internet than households with no children.
Dick Eastman Online
