NEW YORK — More than 21 percent of adult Americans go online “almost constantly,” according to a new Pew Research survey.
It is the first time that a Pew Research Center survey has included “almost constantly” as a response option when asking about frequency of Internet use among adults.
According to Pew, overall, 73 percent of Americans go online on a daily basis, whether it be for news, shopping, research or even porn consumption.
And with the 21 percent who go online almost constantly, 42 percent go online several times a day and 10 percent go online about once a day. About 13 percent go online several times a week or less often.
And there’s a surprise figure, too. Thirteen percent of American adults say they do not use the Internet at all.
Twenty-three percent of adults living in urban and suburban areas use the Internet almost constantly, compared with 14 percent of rural residents.
The rise of mobile phones contributes to all this online activity, Pew noted.
A survey from October said that 68 percent of U.S. adults own a smartphone, and that number is even higher (86 percent) for those ages 18 to 29.