• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 7, 2011

A new Pew Research study notes that there are still notable differences by generation in online activities, but the dominance of the Millennial generation that was documented in the first "Generations" report in 2009 has slipped in many activities.

This is the second report by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project exploring how different generations use the internet. All the generation labels used in these reports, with the exceptions of "Younger Boomers" and "Older Boomers," are the names conventionalized by William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book, Generations: The History of America's Future. The Pew Project "Generations reports" makes the distinction between younger and older Boomers, but Pew separated Younger Boomers and Older Boomers here because enough research has been done to suggest that the two decades are distinct generational groups.

Milliennials, those ages 18-33, remain more likely to access the internet wirelessly with a laptop or mobile phone. In addition, they still clearly surpass their elders online when it comes to:

•  Use of social networking sites
• Use of instant messaging
• Using online classifieds
• Listening to music
• Playing online games
• Reading blogs
• Participating in virtual worlds

However, internet users in Gen X (those ages 34-45) and older cohorts are more likely than Millennials to engage in several online activities, including visiting government websites and getting financial information online.

Among the major trends in online activities:

•  While the youngest generations are still significantly more likely to use social network sites, the fastest growth has come from internet users 74 and older: social network site usage for this oldest cohort has quadrupled since 2008, from 4% to 16%.
• The percentage of all adult internet users who watch video online jumped 14 points in the past two years, from 52% in May 2008 to 66% in May 2010.
• 51% of all online adults listen to music online, compared with 34% the last time this question was asked, in June 2004. While Millennials used to be by far the most avid listeners, Gen Xers and Younger Boomers are catching up.
• As of May 2010, 53% of online adults have used a classified ads website such as Craigstlist, up from 32% in September 2007.
• Additionally, searching for health information, an activity that was once the primary domain of older adults, is now the third most popular online activity for all internet users 18 and older.

Seventy-nine percent of all American adults go online, a number that has remained relatively steady since early 2006. While most generations have internet adoption rates of at least 70%, internet use drops off significantly for adults over age 65: only 58% the Silent Generation and 30% of the G.I. Generation go online. As a result, younger generations continue to be over-represented in the online population, with adults ages 45 and younger constituting about 56% of the online population, despite making up only 49% of the total adult population. The Millennial generation is particularly prominent online

31% of non-internet users say that the main reason they do not go online is that they are simply not interested in doing so. 12% cite not having a computer, and 10% say that it would be too expensive.

Editor's Note:

This is a very complete and complex report and, if the subject is relevant to you, I urge readers to pursue the entire text summary and PDF file for additional clarification and information.