Changes in Computer Use: 2011 to 2021

The federal government has been tracking computer and internet use in the United States since the 1990s—the beginning of the internet era for the general public. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) partners with the Census Bureau to probe the public's use of computing devices by adding question about device ownership, use, and internet access to the Current Population Survey. The latest survey results, collected by the November 2021 Current Population Survey, found the great majority of Americans using the internet. 

Overall, 80 percent of the population aged 3 (yes, three) or older reported using the internet in the 2021 survey. The way the public accesses the internet has changed over the past decade. Here are the trends in device use among people aged 3-plus...

Use a smartphone

2021: 70%

2011: 27%

Use a laptop computer

2021: 49%

2011: 43%

Use a tablet computer

2021: 30%

2011:   6%

Use a desktop computer

2021: 28%

2011: 45%

Use a wearable

2021: 16%

2015:   1% (first year question asked)

Use a smart TV

2021: 48%

2011: 14%

Source: NTIA, New NTIA Data Show Enduring Barriers to Closing the Digital Divide, Achieving Digital Equity

Tech Spending Surged during the Pandemic

The pandemic has been good to Apple. As the coronavirus swept through the country in the early months of 2020, Apple's market cap climbed to $2 trillion by August of that year—the first company to ever hit the $2 trillion mark. As the coronavirus made itself at home in 2021, Apple's market cap continued to soar, briefly hitting $3 trillion on January 3, 2022.

If you're wondering how Apple turned the pandemic into profits, wonder no more. Americans have been in a tech-buying frenzy during the past two years, according to an AARP survey. Among adults under age 50, fully 83 percent purchased at least one new tech item in 2021. Among those aged 50 or older, the figure was 70 percent—down slightly from the 72 percent who purchased new tech in 2020, but still far above the 51 percent who did so before the pandemic in 2019. 

Overall, Americans aged 50 or older spent an average of $821 on new tech items in 2021. Adults under age 50 spent an average of $1,234. What did they buy? Take a look...

Percent buying selected tech items in the past year, by age

	18 to 49	50-plus
Smartphone	37%	30%
Headset/ear buds	34	23
Smart TV	25	20
Laptop computer	21	16
Tablet computer	17	15
Wearable device	17	12
Gaming system	15	5
Home assistant	10	9
Smart home cleaning device	5	5

Source: AARP, 2022 Tech Trends and the 50-Plus

How Many Americans Are "Low Tech"?

How many Americans just aren't tech savvy? In a major new survey of Americans and technology, Pew Research Center has come up with an estimate: 30 percent.

To measure the size of the "low-tech" public, Pew asked two separate questions: 

Question 1. "Overall, how confident, if at all, do you feel using computers, smartphones, or other electronic devices to do the things you need to do online?" and

Question 2. "Which of the following best describes you, even if neither is exactly right? When I get a new computer, smartphone, or other electronic device, I usually...  

—Need someone else to set it up or show me how to use it, or

—Am able to set it up and learn how to use it on my own"

Pew classified those who responded "only a little/not at all" to Question 1 AND those who responded that they usually need help to set up a new electronic device to Question 2 as having "lower tech readiness." Those who said they were somewhat/very confident in using digital devices AND they usually are able to set up and learn how to use a new device on their own as having "higher tech readiness." 

So who are the "lower tech" Americans? Older adults, of course...

Percent of adults who are "lower tech"

Total 18-plus: 30%

Aged 18 to 29: 16%

Aged 30 to 49: 17%

Aged 50 to 64: 34%

Aged 65 to 74: 54%

Aged 75-plus: 68%

Source: Pew Research Center, The Internet and the Pandemic

All of the Above

Among U.S. adults...

85% own a smartphone

77% own a desktop/laptop computer

77% have a broadband connection at home

53% own a tablet computer 

But how many Americans aged 18 or older have all of the above? It depends on their household income, according to a Pew Research Center survey...

Percent of U.S. adults who have "all of the above"

23% of those with household incomes below $30,000

42% of those with household incomes of $30,000 to $99,999

63% of those with household incomes of $100,000 or more

Source: Pew Research Center, Digital Divide Persists even as Americans with Lower Incomes Make Gains in Tech Adoption

A Decade of Tech Adoption

Pew Research Center has been tracking internet use and technology adoption for more than two decades. Its latest survey was fielded in February 2021. Here's a look at how much things have changed during the past 10 years...

Percent of adults who use, subscribe, or own the technology, 2011 and 2021

	2021	2011
Internet	93%	79%
Smartphone	85	35
Broadband at home	77	62
Desktop/laptop computer	77	75
Tablet computer	53	10

Use of the internet increased from an already high level in 2011 (79 percent) to nearly universal adoption in 2021 (93 percent). Broadband (high speed internet) appears to be headed in the same direction—especially if the American Jobs Plan becomes law, with funds for the expansion of broadband into rural America. 

Only 35 percent of adults owned a smartphone in 2011. Over the past decade, smartphone ownership soared, rising 50 percentage points to the 85 percent of today. 

Tablet ownership increased from just 10 percent in 2011 to the 51 percent majority of adults by 2016. Since then, however, ownership of tablet computers has stabilized. For desktop/laptop computers, little has changed over the entire decade.

The percentage of adults who now own a smartphone ranges from a high of 95 to 96 percent among those under age 50 to a low of 61 percent among people aged 65 or older. Use of the internet is close to 100 percent among adults under age 65, but is a smaller 75 percent among those aged 65-plus. 

Source: Pew Research Center, Mobile Fact Sheet, and Internet/Broadband Fact Sheet

How Important Is Computer Science Education?

The 69 percent majority of parents with children in grades 7 through 12 think it is important for their children to learn computer science, but only 35 percent think it is very important, according to a Gallup survey supported by Google. For the survey, computer science is defined as "the study of computers, including both hardware and software design, development and programming." It does not include simply using a computer, doing online research, or creating documents on a computer.  

Students themselves are even less likely than parents to think it is important to learn computer science. Only 40 percent think it is important, and just 16 percent think it is very important. Boys (22 percent) are more likely than girls (9 percent) to think it is very important to learn computer science.

Among parents, 32 percent think it is very likely that their child will need to know computer science for their career someday. Just 35 percent of parents have ever encouraged their child to pursue a career in computer science. Among students, only 10 percent say they are very likely to pursue a career in computer science.

Source: Gallup, Parents Think Computer Science Education Is Important

When Should Children Have Their Own Smartphone?

Today's parents are concerned about their children's screen time. Fully 71 percent of parents with children under age 12 are worried about their child spending too much time in front of a screen, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Two out of three parents say parenting is harder today than it used to be, with many citing technology as the reason. Despite these concerns, the great majority of parents with a child aged 5 to 11 say their child uses tablet computers and smartphones, as do nearly half of parents with a child under age 5...

Parents with a child aged 5 to 11
80% say their child uses/interacts with a tablet computer
63% say their child uses/interacts with a smartphone

Parents with a child under age 5
48% say their child uses/interacts with a tablet computer
55% say their child uses/interacts with a smartphone

What is the appropriate age for children to have their own device? When it comes to smartphones, 73 percent of parents think a child should be 12 or older, with 45 percent giving the nod to children aged 12 to 14 and another 28 percent wanting to wait until a child is aged 15 to 17. Parents are more lax when it comes to tablet computers. Fully 65 percent think children can have their own tablet computer before the age of 12, while 31 percent say the child should be 12 or older.

Source: Pew Research Center, Parenting Children in the Age of Screens

Who Wears a Fitness Tracker?

One in five Americans (19 percent) wears a fitness tracker, such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch, according to a Gallup survey. Women are more likely than men to wear a fitness tracker—21 versus 16 percent. Not surprisingly, young adults are more likely to do so than their elders...

Currently wear a fitness tracker
Aged 18 to 34: 28%
Aged 35 to 54: 22%
Aged 55-plus: 10%

Younger women are especially likely to wear a fitness tracker. Among adults under age 50, fully 31 percent of women and 21 percent of men wear a tracker. The figures among women and men aged 50 or older are 13 and 10 percent, respectively.

Source: Gallup, One in Five U.S. Adults Use Health Apps, Wearable Trackers

Please and Thank You: How We Talk to Smart Speakers

One in four Americans (25 percent) has a smart speaker—such as an Amazon Alexa or a Google Home—in their house, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Younger adults are more likely than those aged 50 or older to have a smart speaker...

Smart speaker ownership by age
Aged 18 to 29: 32%
Aged 30 to 49: 28%
Aged 50 to 64: 19%
Aged 65-plus: 19%

Those who own a smart speaker worry that it is collecting data about them, with 54 percent saying they are "somewhat" or "very" concerned. The fear of being overheard—and judged—might explain this survey finding: 54 percent of smart speaker owners occasionally or frequently say "please" when speaking to their device.

Source: Pew Research Center, 5 Things to Know about Americans and Their Smart Speakers

Online Banking Is the Norm

The use of online banking is nearly universal in the United States today, according to FINRA's latest National Financial Capability Study. Fully 84 percent of Americans with bank accounts use online, computer-based (laptop or desktop) banking at least sometimes. The 59 percent majority uses online, computer-based banking frequently.

Mobile banking is also now the norm. Fully 65 percent of Americans with bank accounts say they use their phone to bank at least sometimes, and 42 percent do so frequently.

Online banking using a laptop or desktop computer does not vary much by age, while mobile banking is much more common among young adults...

Use online banking via a laptop or desktop computer
Aged 18 to 34: 87%
Aged 35 to 54: 85%
Aged 55-plus: 81%

Use mobile banking via a smartphone
Aged 18 to 34: 87%
Aged 35 to 54: 74%
Aged 55-plus: 42%

A substantial portion of the population uses smartphones to pay at point of sale, with 35 percent doing so at least sometimes. About the same percentage (37 percent) use their phones at least sometimes to transfer money to another person—such as through the Venmo or Zelle apps. Younger adults are most likely to do these things. Among 18-to-34-year-olds, 53 percent have used their mobile phone to pay at point of sale, and 60 percent have transferred money to another person using their phone. Among people aged 55 or older, the figures are just 17 and 15 percent, respectively.

Source: FINRA Investor Education Foundation, The State of U.S. Financial Capability: The 2018 National Financial Capability Study

Who Uses YouTube?

Among social media platforms, nothing is as popular as YouTube—not even Facebook, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey. Fully 73 percent of Americans aged 18 or older use YouTube, surpassing the 68 percent who use Facebook. Among younger adults, the figures are even higher...

Percent who use YouTube by age, 2018
Aged 18 to 24: 94%
Aged 25 to 29: 88%
Aged 30 to 49: 85%
Aged 50 to 64: 68%
Aged 65-plus: 40%

What's so great about YouTube? That's a question only 27 percent of adults might ask—those who haven't yet caught on to what YouTube offers—primarily instruction and explanation. The largest share of YouTube users (51 percent) say the site is very important for helping them learn how to do things they haven't done before, 19 percent say it is very important for helping them decide whether to buy a particular product, and 19 percent say it is very important for helping them understand things happening in the world. Only 28 percent say YouTube is very important just for passing the time.

But there is a dark side to YouTube, and most YouTube users have encountered it. Sixty percent say they have seen videos that show people engaging in dangerous or troubling behavior, the Pew Survey found. Among the 81 percent of parents who let their children aged 11 or younger watch YouTube, 61 percent say their child has encountered unsuitable content. "Numerous researchers have noted that a great deal of children's content on YouTube consists of simple, repetitive animated videos with modest production values and seemingly random titles designed specifically to appeal to the site's search function and automated recommendation system," Pew states.

For an eye-opening examination of the unsavory content in some YouTube videos for children, see Weird Kids Videos and Gaming the Algorithm.

Source: Pew Research Center, Social Media Use in 2018 and Many Turn to YouTube for Children's Content, News, How-To Lessons

An Historic Moment in Tech Adoption

We may be at an historic moment. "The share of Americans who go online, use social media, or own key devices has remained stable the past two years," reports Pew Research Center. Pew knows because it has been surveying these things for decades, all the way back to 1994, when the percentage of people who "use the Internet" was just 6 percent.

According to Pew's 2018 survey, 89 percent of American adults use the Internet, 77 percent own a smartphone, 73 percent own a desktop or laptop computer, 69 percent are on social media, and 53 percent have a tablet computer. These percentages are nearly identical to the 2016 figures. Behind the stability is the "near-saturation levels of adoption of some technologies. Put simply, in some instances there just aren't many non-users left."

That's not to say technological change has come to a halt. The Internet of Things is rising, says Pew, with the growing use of smart TVs, wearable devices, digital voice assistants, and so on. But we are in a new phase, and "the method for tracking certain adoption metrics may need to change." Pew's panel of experts, for example, has advised Pew that it may want to stop asking people whether they "use the Internet." The reason? That's like asking them if they use electricity. A silly question.

Source: Pew Research Center, Internet, Social Media Use and Device Ownership in U.S. Have Plateaued after Years of Growth

Teens and Tech: 2018 Update

Every few years Pew Research Center surveys the use of technology by teenagers aged 13 to 17. Here are some of the latest findings...

95% of teens have a smartphone or access to one.
88% of teens have a desktop or laptop computer at home.
45% of teens say they are online almost constantly.
97% of teen boys and 83% of teen girls play video games.
85% of teens say they use YouTube, the most popular online platform.
31% of teens say social media is mostly positive, and among them the largest share says social media allows them to connect with friends and family.
24% of teens say social media is mostly negative, and among them the largest share says social media allows bullying and rumors to spread.

Source: Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and Technology 2018

84% of Americans Are Digitally Literate

The 84 percent majority of Americans are digitally literate, according to a survey of Americans aged 16 to 65. Only 16 percent of the population is not digitally literate. These findings come from The International Assessment of Adult Competencies, sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The survey assessed the computer skills of a nationally representative sample of Americans, determining how many were able to use computers "to solve real-world problems such as purchasing goods or services, finding health information, and managing personal information and business finances."

The United States was just one of the 19 countries whose computer skills were assessed by the OECD. With a digital literacy rate of 84 percent, the U.S. beat the 19-country average of 77 percent. Among the countries, the Netherlands had the largest percentage of digitally literate (89 percent) and Poland had the smallest (50 percent). The U.S. ranks lower in digital literacy than Scandinavian countries, about the same as Canada, England, and Germany, and higher than Australia, Austria, Korea, or Japan.

Fully 74 percent of Americans aged 18 to 65 use a computer at work, the survey found, and 81 percent use a computer in everyday life. Of course digital literacy varies by demographic characteristic. Here are some of the biggest differences...

Education: Fully 95 percent of 18-to-65-year-olds with an associate's degree or more education are digitally literate versus 83 percent of high school graduates and 59 percent of high school dropouts.

Age: The youngest adults are the most literate. Fully 92 percent of 16-to-24-year-olds are digitally literate. The figure falls with age to a low of 72 percent among 55-to-65-year-olds.

Race and Hispanic origin: Only 65 percent of Hispanics are digitally literate. The figure is 78 percent among Blacks and 89 percent among non-Hispanic Whites. Asians were not identified separately but included in an "other" category along with American Indians and the multiracial. The digital literacy rate of the "other" group was 87 percent.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, A Description of U.S. Adults Who Are Not Digitally Literate

A Case Study of Technological Whiplash

In 2005 the Bureau of Labor Statistics added a category to the Consumer Expenditure Survey—personal digital audio players. The phenomenal success of Apple's iPod demanded a new expenditure category, and four years after the iPod's introduction in 2001 it took its place in the survey. Alas, it was too late to capture the full arc of spending on new technology in an era of innovation—from zero to THE BIG THING and back to zero.

The first year in which personal digital audio players were included in the Consumer Expenditure Survey was 2005. But 2006 was the first full year of data collection—one year before the category was blown to smithereens by the introduction of the iPhone. The first full year of data collection was also the apparent peak year of household spending on personal digital audio players...

Average household spending on personal digital audio players, 2006 to 2016 (in 2016$)
2006: $20.73 (first full year of data collection and peak spending)
2007: $20.13
2008: $15.12
2009: $14.55
2010: $12.57
2011: $10.98
2012:   $7.75
2013:   $4.87
2014:   $3.07
2015:   $1.83
2016:   $1.76

Average household spending on personal digital audio players fell 92 percent between 2006 and 2016, after adjusting for inflation.

The average household spent more on iPods and their kin in 2006 than it did on a number of other entertainment categories, including bicycles, musical instruments, camping equipment, winter sports equipment, and streamed and downloaded audio and video. By 2016, spending on personal digital audio players was one of the smallest items in the entertainment category.

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Consumer Expenditure Surveys

74% Read a Book in the Past Year

Nearly three out of four Americans aged 18 or older have read a book in the past year, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey. Print is the most popular format by far, and the percentage who have read a print book has not changed much in the past six years despite competition from digital books.

Percent who read a book in past year by format
Print: 67%
E-book: 26%
Audiobook: 18%

Among those who have read a book in the past year, 53 percent have read only print books, 9 percent have read only digital books (a category that includes e-books and audiobooks), and the remaining 39 percent have read both print and digital books.

Source: Pew Research Center, Nearly One-in-Five Americans Now Listen to Audiobooks

Self-Driving Cars and Technology Adoption

The 54 percent majority of Americans say they are unlikely to use self-driving cars, according to a Gallup survey. The biggest naysayers are, of course, older adults...

Not likely to use a self-driving car
Aged 18 to 35: 41%
Aged 36 to 50: 49%
Aged 51 to 65: 61%
Aged 66-plus: 69%

But don't take these figures too seriously. "Americans have previously underestimated their potential adoption of new technology," Gallup notes, citing cell phones as an example (see Demo Memo post about Gallup's cell phone report here). Twenty-three percent of Americans told Gallup in 2000 that they would never get a cell phone, and only 5 percent did not have a cell phone in 2018. If the same ratio holds, then only 12 percent of the public will be saying no to self-driving cars in another decade or two.

Source: Gallup, Americans Hit The Brakes on Self-Driving Cars

How Important Are Foreign-Born Workers to IT?

Foreign-born workers are a large share of the information technology (IT) labor force in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics examines just how large, particularly in what it calls "creative IT professions," which it defines as computer scientists and systems analysts, network systems analysts, web developers, computer programmers, software developers, and computer hardware engineers. The BLS analysis begins with the big picture—the foreign-born share of the labor force as a whole, then focuses on the foreign-born share of all IT jobs, and finally on the foreign-born share of creative IT jobs. Here are the findings...

• Foreign-born workers accounted for 17 percent of the total U.S. labor force in 2014 (up from 7 percent in 1980). 
• Foreign-born workers accounted for 24 percent of workers in all IT occupations in 2014 (up from 7 percent in 1980). 
• Foreign-born workers accounted for 33 percent of workers in creative IT occupations (up from 8 percent in 1980).

The BLS analysis goes even deeper, drilling down to the foreign-born share of workers in creative IT occupations in what it calls "innovation-leading metropolitan areas," defined as the five metros with the most patents in computer software and hardware—San Jose, Seattle, Austin, Portland (Oregon); and Raleigh. In these metros, fully 53 percent of workers in creative IT jobs are foreign-born (up from 11 percent in 1980). In Silicon Valley specifically, the foreign-born share is an enormous 71 percent (up from 15 percent in 1980).

The dominance of foreign-born workers in Silicon Valley might explain the perception that American technological success is dependent on the foreign-born, suggests the BLS report. "Outside the United States, there is a strong perception that fortunes of many successful U.S. companies rest almost exclusively on foreign-born labor, with little credit given to the native-born labor force," says the report. But the facts say otherwise. Yes, foreign-born workers are a big part of the IT labor force, but the perception that they dominate the labor force may be "mostly due to Silicon Valley trends."

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Trends among Native- and Foreign-Origin Workers in U.S. Computer Industries

Alexa, Listen to Me

Despite this being early days for digital voice assistants, they are already remarkably popular. Nearly half of Americans have used them, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The largest share of the public has used a digital voice assistant on their smartphone (42 percent), while only 8 percent have used a stand-alone device such as an Amazon Echo (Alexa). Not surprisingly, digital voice assistants are more popular among younger adults...

Have ever used a digital voice assistant
Total public: 46%
Under aged 50: 55%
Aged 50-plus: 37%

Source: Pew Research Center, Nearly Half of Americans Use Digital Voice Assistants, Mostly on Their Smartphones

Jobs in the Retail Apocalypse

The year 2012 may have been the beginning of the retail apocalypse, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis, which compares job growth over the years in two types of retail establishments—department stores and nonstore (online) retailers. Before 2012, the number of jobs in both types of establishments closely followed the ups and downs of the business cycle. But in 2012 everything changed. Department stores began to shed jobs by the tens and hundreds of thousands while online retailers have been adding to their payrolls.

To make matters worse for those laid-off department store workers, say the researchers, the stores eliminating jobs are often in different locations from the online retailers who are hiring—a geographic disparity documented in their study. Even if laid-off department store workers moved to where online retailers are hiring, they aren't likely to land a job because skillsets are different, as evidenced by average pay levels— about $20,000 a year for department store workers versus about $59,000 a year for those employed by online retailers.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Liberty Street Economics, How Is Online Shopping Affecting Retail Employment?