• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 9, 2015

Driven by the rise of mobile, more than one-fifth of U.S. consumers (21%) now report going online “almost constantly,” according to new findings form the Pew Research Center.

Overall, nearly three out of four consumers (73%) go online at least once a day, while 42% report logging on at least several times a day.

While older adults are adjusting our mobile age, their younger counterparts are still leading the way in terms of frequency, Pew reports.

In fact, 36% of 18- to-29-year-olds report going online almost constantly, while 50% say they go online multiple times per day. By comparison, just 6% of those 65 and older go online almost constantly, while 24% report going online multiple times per day.

Along with younger adults, some demographic groups that report going online frequently include college-educated adults, adults who live in higher-income households, and non-rural residents.

Some 29% of adults with a college education or more go online almost constantly, and 89% go online daily. By contrast, 14% of adults with a high school education or less report such active online behavior.

This 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. A recent survey of teens found that 24% reported going online almost constantly, which was nearly identical to the figure among adults.

At the same time, teens are more likely than adults to go online at least daily -- 92% compared with 73%, respectively.

Apart from age, Pew also found smartphone ownership, income and education level to be strong indicators of Web activity. Indeed, about three-quarters of Americans now use a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device to tap into the Web at least occasionally. Fully 87% of these users go online daily, while 27% go online almost constantly.

Among Americans who don’t use a mobile device as their way of getting on the Web, 65% go online daily, and just 8% report that they go online almost constantly.