ITinfo: U.S. Census Reports We're A Wired Nation

Homes & Children Online

Almost all children had computer access

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U.S. Census Reports We're A Wired Nation

by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

The U.S. Census report released this morning reports that about 42 percent of all U.S. households had web access last year. This compares with about a quarter of all homes in 1997.

A third of all adults and a fifth of all children (3-17 years old) use email. Almost two-thirds of children live in a home with a computer, and a third of all children have gone online.

Looking at the total population, about half of the nation has a computer at home. When the census first tracked home computer usage in 1984, only eight percent of homes reported having at least one computer.

Citizens without home computers are more likely to be older and/or have a smaller income, giving fuel to the argument that there is a digital divide across socioeconomic levels of the U.S. society.

Children seem to be the most likely to have access to a computer, thanks to a combination of their home and school facilities. Nearly 90 percent of children between the ages of 6 and 17 had access to a computer.

Dave's Opinion

I'm glad that our nation's children have access to computers. I hope that they are learning useful, transferrable skills. Surfing the Internet can be interesting, and it's a transferable skill; however, I challenge trainers and educators to encourage students to learn to write well, even if they're practicing writing through email.

Last evening, at dinner, our fourth grade daughter was excited to report that she was learning to type "correctly" -- using more than two fingers. She anticipates that 10-finger typing will increase her speed and accuracy.

My wife and I encourage our daughters to read, write, and type as often as possible. Written communication is an important skill that's frequently overlooked by otherwise well-meaning parents. We help our daughters use email to communicate with our family and friends around the world.

A word of caution: monitor your children's Internet and email use closely. Viruses are the least of the worries we parents have once we help our children online.

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References

U.S. Census Bureau
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updated September 6, 2001
http://dgl.com/itinfo/2001/it010906.html