One-Fifth Of Americans Use Smartphones As Their Primary Onramp To Internet

As someone who can't imagine not owning a powerful desktop PC with a big monitor, Pew Research Center's latest Internet usage report short-circuits my brain just a little bit.

The biggest takeaway from the results is that nearly 20% of Americans access the Internet primarily on their mobile phones. That means they don't use a desktop or notebook for Internet access - only their phone. Perhaps for the younger generation, this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, but even so, 20% is a huge share.

Other results show that 64% of American adults own a smartphone, and close to 25% of them have limited online options. So, it could be that these folks would have Internet access on other devices, if it was either available or more affordable. That's a fact fueled further with another fact that shows that 10% of all American adults have zero - zip, nada, nil - options for broadband in their area.

In households where less than $30,000 is earned each year, 13% of people will rely on their phone entirely; for households where $75,000 or more each year is earned, only 1% rely solely on their smartphones.

Some of the other facts to come out of this research is almost expected. Lower-income users will use their phones more for exploring employment resources, while many use their phone to keep up on breaking news and to keep in touch with others. Nothing new or surprising here.

There are some other interesting bits, however. In total (of those who completed the survey), 62% of people have used their smartphones to look up health information, while 57% have conducted online banking. Here's one that impresses me: 18% have used their smartphone to submit a job application.

If you're interested in perusing even more stats, hit up the link below as it's chock-full of them, as well as other general information. It's actually pretty refreshing to have so much research information available without a cost.