• by Masha Geller , July 17, 2002

Looks like the Internet is no longer the playground of the rich and educated. According to a recent study, the medium’s future seems to depend on the lower end of the economic spectrum.

Regular use of the Internet by U.S. adults who did not attend college rose 116% from the spring of 1997 to spring 2002, according to the latest data from Mediamark Research (MRI) Inc. According to the researchers, during the same period, regular use of the Internet by those who attended college decreased by 19%.

This is intuitive, says Anne Marie Kelly, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI. “The earliest Internet users were young professional men, followed by ‘early adopters’ who typically have advanced education and high disposable income. The Internet has moved beyond being a medium for a few to one that’s becoming integrated into consumers’ daily lives.”

MRI’s data, culled from in-home interviews with 26,000 adults, certainly reflects that change. In the spring of 1997, 85.79% of U.S. adults who said they had used the Internet in the last 30 days had attended college, versus 14.21% who had not attended. This spring, 69.35% of regular Internet users had attended college while 30.66% had not.

Likewise, five years ago, 44.58% of regular Internet users had a professional/executive occupation. By the spring of 2002, this figure had fallen to 31.45%. Among regular users of the Internet in spring 1997, 75.52% were employed full-time. The corresponding figure for spring 2002 is 66.74%.

Forward this to anyone who refuses to admit that the web has reached the status of a mass medium.