Internet Users Don't Have to be Home Hotels, airports, Starbucks and many other public locations are making it convenient for Internet users to go online away from home and work. The
Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that 23% of adult U.S. Internet users have gone online from a place other than home or work...close to 30 million people. More than half of Internet
users go online in multiple places
On any given day more than 4 million Americans are accessing the Internet from some place other than home or work, reports Paul Harwood, Research
Associate (University of North Florida), and Lee Rainie, Director. On a typical day, they say, more than half the people accessing the Internet from a "third place" are between ages 18-24. Students
are the anywhere, anytime users of the Internet.
On any given day, 27% of those who use the Internet go online in at least two places. At the same time, a portion of Internet users depend
completely on these other places because these locales are the exclusive providers of their online connection.
64% of American adults use the Internet...128 million people. Some 88% of them have
a home connection to the Internet. On a given day, 79% of the 69 million American adults who are online are using a home-based connection to the Net. The PEW surveys show that 51% of all online users
access the Net while at work. 40% of those connecting to the Internet on a typical day log on from work.
Where Americans Use The Internet
| Home only | 36% |
| Work only | 7% |
| Another place
only | 3% |
| Home and work | 34% |
| Home and another place other than work | 10% |
| Work and another place other than home | 2% |
| Home and work and another place | 8% |
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project surveys
Nearly half those between 18-24 years old report they have accessed the Internet from
another place. 26% of the users between 25-34 go online in places like libraries, friend's and neighbor's homes, relative's homes and cyber cafes. Only 10% of Internet users age 65 years and older
have ever gone online from place other than their home.
3rd Place Users
| % of 3rd Place Users | % of Overall Internet Population Who Use 3rd Place |
| Men | 54% | 21% |
| Women | 46% | 19% |
| Race/ethnicity |
| Whites | 78% | 19% |
| Blacks | 7% | 23% |
| Hispanics | 9% | 23% |
| Other
| 7% | 30% |
| Age |
| 18-24 | 32% | 48% |
| 25-34 | 24% | 21% |
| 35-44 | 20% | 16% |
| 45-54 | 14% | 13% |
| 55-64
| 8% | 15% |
| 65+ | 3% | 10% |
| Household income |
| Less than $30,000 | 22% | 28% |
| $30,000-$50,000 | 28% | 22% |
| $50,000-$75,000 | 17% | 17%
|
| $75,000 + | 33% | 18% |
| Employment status |
| Employed full or part time | 77% | 23% |
| Not employed | 23% | 20% |
| Education level |
| Did not graduate from HS | 8% | 45% |
| High school grad | 18% | 16% |
| Some college | 37% | 26% |
| College degree + | 38% | 17% |
| Type of home connection |
| Dial up | 68% |
| Broadband |
32% |
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project March-May 2003 survey.