20% of U.S. Population Has Never Used Email 279
Ezratrumpet writes "A recent PC World article notes that 20 percent of the U.S. population has never sent an email. Does this number over- or underestimate the actual number of people who know nothing of email? What are the implications of this statistic to our society? Or are these people just Luddites who mourned the demise of the telegraph and have also never used a telephone?"
A life without spam (Score:5, Funny)
Amazing.
Re:A life without spam (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:A life without spam (Score:4, Funny)
Households, not population (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Households, not population (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Households, not population (Score:5, Insightful)
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See The Spanish Prisoner [wikipedia.org]. This scam is at least 100 years old.
Twenty years ago our company used to get letters, (snail mail) from Nigeria, with exactly the sme pitches as they use now in email. A few years later they came by fax.
The medium is new, the scams are not. It's true that we now get them much more frequently than when it was something we passed around
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As much as I would like to agree with you, I simply can not. It's stands to reason that those made aware of the dangers (either by education, experience or cynicism ) would take safeguards to prevent theft via email scams; however, I personally know of someone who has been made aware of these scams (Nigerian 411 and others) on a continuing basis and
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Re:Households, not population (Score:4, Insightful)
The target demographic in these scams (especially with the added consideration of SMS-spam) are:
a) the older folks who could REALLY USE a few (nevermind a few HUNDRED) extra thousand to get by
b) teenagers using mommy and daddy's bank account, thinking they are 'the slick'
c) the dirt poor, who have seen black market dealings all their life, and know a good con can pay off sometimes (low value target)
d) idiots
Most people belonging to any of those groups see $200K as a goldmine. Hell, I know what money's really worth, and would STILL jump at a chance to catch $200,000; not to the point of forgetting what lying deceitful creatures humans can be though.
Re:Households, not population (Score:4, Interesting)
Assuming that the 6.8% of the population is under 5 years old and doesn't use the internet, and assuming that the 12.4% of the population is over 65 doesn't use the internet, leaves about 9.4% of the population unaccounted for.
Also, what about the 14 - 25 year old demographic who are using SMS rather than email?
So, I guess what I am saying here is that if only 71.4% of the US has access to the internet, how is it possible that 18% of all households don't use email?
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Also, without surveying every single person, you will never get an exact number. I doubt either of the stats (from your link, which doesn't include Mexico in North America, or from the article
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So? (Score:5, Insightful)
From TFA:
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Absolutely! I do use technology and still won't use email unless I have no choice (for example, communication from some business that leaves no other option). There are far better ways to comm
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Email is an excellent form for communicating with others where there is no need for instant response. That way the other parties can respond when they're ready to, and not when you demand it. In the workplace this means that they don't have to drop what they're doing to give you their attention, allowing them to continue focusing on their tasks.
Most other forms of 'better' communication are great if you must have an immediate response, but the most common ones (face to face, phon
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Re:So? (Score:4, Insightful)
You are just like a friend of mine that seems to almost detest email...but, it isn't spam that drives him away. He keeps harping on that he'd rather make a phone call, etc. My other friends in our little group, all are like I am....and we prefer email. During the work day, phone calls can be heard by everyone else in 'cube land'. With email, no one around you knows your planning your weekend motorcycle trip rather than asking a java coding quesstion. And most often...you can only call one person at a time (Ok I know you can do multi-party calls, but, you have to do the dialing regiment and hope everyone is available that moment)....with email, and CC, you can hold conversations with the whole group.
My friend gets pissed at times and says not to send so much email, but, then when we do that...he gets made when he gets left out of plans we make during the week for the weekends. It is a real PITA.
I actually prefer email to IM (I've not used much, but, mostly due to workplaces I've been at do not allow it...security risks), and especially to phone calls. On the weekends, I hold email conversations with friends and family of mine all over the country. I do make a couple of calls with Mom and Dad....but, mostly email. Sometimes emails over the weekend are almost in real time...that much of it. But, the thing is...I can do it asynchronously and not have to stop my usual weekend things, like on Sundays...I have to do all my cleaning and cooking (and shopping) that day for the next week. I can be running all over the place...but, I have computers in the kitchen and all over the house, always on. I can do quick snippets on email and keep going. With a phone call...I have to STOP what I'm doing usually...for an extended period of time, and hold the phone and talk. In the evenings when I'm watching TV or a movie....I can email without really dropping my attention to the program, but, a phone call? I gotta put things on pause...or miss out on something if I let it run.
So, basically...I'm the complete opposite of you....I really prefer email as my primary method of communicating.
I also type quite fast...as do most of my friends that I email with. My friend that hates email, is a slow hunt and pecker....we're often hypothesized that maybe this is one major factor why he doesn't like email as much...to HIM...it takes too long and too much effort since he is a poor typist?
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Different things work for different people who work in different contexts. In my work, email is hopelessly slow and ineffective. I can't wait an hour or a day or a week to exchange information with someone. Very often, my entire workflow depends on getting the right piece of information - the answer to a question, a critical point of data, the name of a person who I need to get in touch with. If I rely solely on email, my workflow stops until
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It depends on where you are, but here in America, yes, that makes you abnormal. If you're in the wilds of Africa, probably not so abnormal. Never using a fairly common method of communication which has been around for quite some time now as technology goes is also abnormal. I didn't have a cell phone until less than a y
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Re:So? (Score:5, Interesting)
But honestly, I just pulled that out of my ass, and so did you, and probably so will anyone else who replies. But that will still be more interesting than the questions raised in the summary..
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I dunno, but, I do notice it tries to be injected into far too many conversations.
Personally I don't give a damn....I'm not out to alter my life or lifestyle as long as I can afford it. I like the way I live, and carbon emissions or whatever 'green' topic of the day just is not on my radar. I'm definitely not alone on this....I think the people so adamant about this, are just a very loud minority o
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How much did it cost me to send this message? (like email). Hell of a lot LESS than a postage stamp and a postage stamp tends to reflect amount of cost to *deliver* the said letter.
If the costs were similar, there would be no SPAM at all because even if the said costs were shared, it would cost you 5c or 10c to just send a single message.
If you just want to be anal about some stupid question like this an
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I, for one, do like to enjoy a more "disconnected" lifestyle. That's why I disconnect my cell phone from time to time, and occasionally leave my e-mail boxes unattended for a few days. There's
Re:So? (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead I'm fairly lazy and so here I am yet again posting on slashdot.
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(Heh, after hitting preview, that looks like a poor quality song lyric)
Re:So? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do I need to use a computer, and what is the big difference it's going to make in my life?
I often feel sad that I'm so tied to the computer and similar devices - there are plenty of people out there who I feel live a fuller life than I do simply because they're not attached so heavily to computers. While we're sitting here writing to each other on Slashdot about people who don't use e-mail, others who perhaps don't use e-mail are spending time with their families and friends. I would not say I'm envious of people who don't use e-mail, but I can see the positive side of it.
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Why do I need to use a computer, and what is the big difference it's going to make in my life?
And also, how much would having an electronic device diminish the enjoyment of some of those things you mentioned? If I grab coffee and lunch some place during the day, the last thing I want is to be interrupted by a pager or blackberry or cellphone while I am enjoying it. And how many people have no real downtime at life because they are tied to mobile devices? Not necessarily because they are workaholics, but because their job mandates that they carry these things. I'm not tied to a mobile device, do
Re:So? (Score:5, Insightful)
I like computers. I like email. I like SMS. I like videogames. Hell, I like watching TELEVISION.
I don't understand this "computers are evil" meme that rises up at slashdot -- what the hell are you doing on this site, or working in tech, if you don't like computers or electronic devices? Unless, you're the kind of 'phone it in' asshats that make my working life less enjoyable -- not saying you are, but what the fuck?
I've taken vacations and turned off my phone, left the game systems behind, and gone someplace with no TV. It was nice and peaceful, just kicking it and reading books. I love me some books -- probably my favorite leisure activity.
But I've never been happier to come back from a vacation! Cell phones rule. Videogames rule. Email lets me interact with my wife about a million times more than I would if we didn't have it. Social networks enable me to stay involved in the lives of friends who live thousands of miles away -- and have them involved in my life too. Videogames let me interact with my son on levels I couldn't otherwise. Computers rule. I don't think my laptop has been more than 10 or 20 feet from me, other than if I'm out to eat, in months. Cell phones -- don't get me started! Do you remember trying to coordinating meeting up at a location before cell phones? It sucked! Cell phones are freaking sweet. My phone gives me directions, it tells me where traffic is, it enables email, people can call me on it. It has all my friends' contact info. It connects to the Web. It has an MP4 of the moon landing I can watch when I'm bored. It has MP3s of my favorite songs I can listen to. It's fucking rad!
Technology: It's a good thing!!
Re:So? (Score:5, Insightful)
Saturday morning:
I noticed the car was running funny ever since my last fillup and now the check engine light is on. Being a pretty talented mechanic I have checked everything over and it all looked fine, but the spark plug on number 3 cylinder was fouled. I have cleaned and now the engine is running smooth. That damn light is still on though. I'd really like to just reset it and see if it comes back. I am sure there is an easy way and that that Google thing everyone is talking about could tell me but since I don't have a computer I am going to have to spend 2 hours making phone calls to local shops and the manufactures tech center until I can find someone who will tell me how to do this, oh well there goes Saturday.
Sunday Morning:
On the way home from warship the wife tells me she has notices our savings account has not been growing as fast lately. She is concerned about our future retirement and sending the kids to college. What are we spending so much money on all of a sudden? She and I would like to know. I keep pretty good records and receipts. I can tell you what are balances are without calling the bank, ok I don't know exactly when that last interest payment got credited. My paper ledger does a great job. Its odd though combing my eyes over it I don't see any unusal expense. Have gas and groceries just gone up that much? Well let me get out the calculator and start totaling those specif items up over the past few months and then flip back to this time last year and do the same. Yep that is where the money went. That only took half an hour, not to shabby, although Jim at work said he has this MickySoft Cash program that lets him do that stuff instantly on his computer. It might be nice I don't know.
I have no problem with people not wanting to use computers. Its a choice and this is a free society. I do think pretty much Adult living in the United States could extract some value from owning one and knowing how to use it. Maybe you don't need e-mail specifically or anyone one application in particular for that matter depending on who you are what you do. That is fine too. I would even venture to guess the average machine from 1990 and the software to go with it is plenty for most people, at least if it was still in good working order. Lets no even pretend though that anyone not living an extremely exceptional life style like monasticism can't find something to offer them in the last 20 years of personal computing.
I still you FrameWork under the does emulator on my Linux box for most of my financial record keeping. It does exactly what I need. I have macros to import csv files from my bank and the like, just like quicken. I wrote those when I was to young and poor to by that software otherwise I might have.
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Re:So? (Score:4, Insightful)
Funny that you mentioned construction labor because I got my current contractor referred to me over the net and we actually send communications and contracts via email.
The point is that computer lack of computer technology is only OK up until a certain point until it is impossible to compete with the rest of society in a capitalistic system.
Currently Joe works construction, but do to immigration and advances in technology his jobs are getting harder and harder to find (also especially due to the failing housing market).
When a site manager needs to pick up some hired hands and depending on the skill will take first come first serve with the employment and he needs those workers ASAP. Sure he'll put in a ad in the local newspaper, but he also posts on Craigslist or a Union forum or emailing list (if you happen to live in such an area) that he needs workers for his latest project.
Joe shows up a day after the ad in the newspaper went out and the site manager says "Sorry bud, we got everyone we need last night with mostly these 18 to 20 year olds who responded to the online posts and emails."
Now such a scenario isn't 100% likley... I mean he might have a friend with a computer or knows the cousin of the site manager who gave him a ring the night before, but thats no guarantee as time progresses.
We have limited resources and employment to go around and having a computer will give you an edge information wise and if you sit this out then you'll find yourself sitting at home unemployed more and more because people who got the information before you get it the old fashion way.
So in about 10 to 20 years if you don't have a computer... We'll then lets just say lets hope your kids do so they can take care of you.
You know that ATT commercial about "the moment"? There is a reason most major corporations are forcing their employees to always carry a blackberry and thats because in a purely competitive world, those who know first will get there first to be served first.
Its just how the world works at this point though I personally don't like the idea of having to be on call all the time...
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Articles attitude explains everything (Score:3, Insightful)
Its that sort of arrogant crap that makes people vow to never use a computer. Some people have no need for a particular tech. I NEVER send text messages, they seem a waste of time. I don't use RSS and have no idea what twitter is. I never use myspace and don't have a facebook page.
So fucking sue me.
This infantile attitude of "I use tech X and thus so should you" just shows the immaturity of the p
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A growing share of the job and consumer market have e-mail as preferred or sole communication method - or at least for the initial trigger. I'm willing to bet that 20% will continue to evaporate.
Re:Articles attitude explains everything (Score:4, Insightful)
One-half of those who have never used e-mail are over 65, and 56 percent had no schooling beyond high school.
What do you want to be there's a significant overlap in those two groups? What do you want do bet that those over 65 aren't concerned about e-mail being the sole communication method of either job or consumer markets? That 'evaporation' will be simple attrition and won't support any conclusions at all.
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I have to agree with you there. True, I do send text messages, emails and use Twitter, but I still use paper mail, and telephony (be it via VoIP or an old-fashioned phone). And I steadfastly refuse to use anything like Spazbook or Myface. What the point of them actually is remains a mystery to me.
I don't condemn people who don't use the above technologies. It's their own decision.
True, I tell them about the benefits of having an e-mail address (instant-ish delivery, free), but I don't condemn them for not
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The licence agreement for Slashdot surely states "I admit I'm a geek or nerd with little or not social life, I therefore know twitter, use RSS and send at least two text messages a day. I hate Microsoft (having any version of Windows is allowed, but should be denied publicly, if you are busted using it Slashdot denies any knoledge or responsabilite and will not be hold responsible)"
Exactly (Score:2)
Re:So? (Score:4, Insightful)
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By learning the reasons email doesn't meet the communication needs of a significant portion of the population, you can either expand the capabilities of email, or design new systems to address those gaps.
Those gaps don't exist. If they did, 20% of the population would be working on a way to solve them. This goes back to the original point: People will use e-mail if they need to.
E-mail is not the only solution to communication. It does not fulfill all communication needs and it does not need to fulfill all communication needs. Does everyone you know own a TV? Lots of my friends choose not to, for different reasons. That does not mean that the capabilities of TV must be expanded or that new systems must be d
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Without e-mail you would depend on and pay for an agent for the most trivial purchases. You have the inability to book your own e-tickets for flights and events, to even consider thousands of useful on-line retailers for your shopping. Telephone and paper support for some of these tasks are being reduced and might not even exist for new businesses.
So you are failing to adopt. Your ways will e
You think that's stupid? (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.clientleasingservices.com/ [clientleas...rvices.com]
750,000 of them, according to usatoday...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-09-14-phone_x.htm [usatoday.com]
Shocked?! (Score:5, Informative)
215,935,529 Internet users as of Dec/07, 71.7% of the population, according to Nielsen//NetRatings
Latest Population Estimate
301,139,947 population for 2007, according to the Census Bureau.
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So I assume they only accounted those who use the internet also use their television watch boxes and then used some obscure multiplier to get that number, right?
Yeah I'm going to believe their statistics alright.
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The brainless zombies are, because they are in the majority.
The network executives are, because they only look at the bottom line, and the bottom line is brainless zombies.
Lobby your government for a national public broadcaster that has a mandate to inform, educate, and entertain [bbc.co.uk] if you want a change.
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Another advertisement? (Score:2)
So, what's the angle? They're trying to tell us that since a whopping 20% of society has never used email, we should all sell our computers and buy a LotusBerry(tm)?
Pfffffffft.
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How then... (Score:3, Funny)
Err... (Score:3)
Far, far worse: (Score:5, Funny)
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"Just about" (Score:2)
nevertheless they are indirectly affected ... (Score:2, Informative)
On the other side, most people that doesn't know how to use e-mail ask techies they know for help.
I have already forgotten how many mails I have sent for my mom and aunts.
50% of the population is below average (Score:2)
Is this what slashdot has become? (Score:3)
Good lord who cares!
I bet 85% of the US population have never been in a war.
I bet 100% of the US population are under 19' tall.
At least 20% of the US population will never see this post.
Hell I wouldn't be surprised if 10% of the US population don't even own a cell phone.
It's rare that I would complain about the news here but whoever approved this AND whoever submitted it, wtf, really? Just WTF.
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Homer: Aw, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of all people know that.
It was a Phone Survey (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not necessarily: the sample population also misses all the true Luddites, who wouldn't even have a phone to answer the survey.
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There's also absolutely nothing that says a phone survey couldn't have sampled a number of cell phones - in fact I'd expect them to as otherwise you limit the samples to
The truly tech savvy appreciate analog ... (Score:2)
How many of these tech savvy people own homes? The advantage to a plain old telephone is that it is self powered. If you lose your electrical service for some reason a plain old telephone will still work. Also having a plain old telephone does not preclude you from using cell phones or skype when there is a cost advantage.
Besides "tech savvy" pe
10 years.... (Score:5, Insightful)
From zero to 80% in 10/12/15 years, how the US has embraced email
Sure lots of the people here on Slashdot might have had an email account in the 80s, but that is an insignificant minority. I actually think that it is pretty impressive at 80% penetration given some of the literacy issues in the US education system.
Maybe they did a cost/benefit analysis? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sending your first email requires an investment to purchase your computer and subscribe to an ISP's plan.
Making a phone call requires a minimal investment in a phone, and a monthly fee of about the same price as internet access.
Sending an SMS usually requires either a 1 or 2 year commitment to a cellular provider's service plan, or the purchase of a phone for use with pre-paid minutes.
So, if these 20% want or need to provide a written record of communication, they can use snail mail at a cost of 50 cents (plus an initial investment of a dollar for a pen), or they can spend $500 on a computer and $20 a month on an ISP.
If they want a faster response than a snail mail, they *pick up the phone*. Which trumps email and IM on speed if more than one question/response is needed.
Or they use an SMS or voicemail or an answering machine if the intended recipient isn't available.
For "Joe Average", the cost/benefit ratio of email is absolutely horrible compared to other forms of communication. And since there really isn't any pressing *need* for them to have email, they don't make that investment. From anecdotal observations, I'd also say that another 20% of the population *with* computers and internet access *don't use email* on any regular basis. They use the internet for entertainment and information *not* communication.
As for me, I've been using email since the late 80's, early 90's. However up until 2005, I had *never* sent an SMS. And until mid 2006 when I had a reason to use SMS more, I had only sent maybe 3 SMSes.
So, for a service (email) that has no real value to many, has many alternatives, and requires a sizeable initial investment, is it any surprise that 20% of the population hasn't bothered with it? One wonders if perhaps they're the smarter ones.
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Maybe where you live, but 50c in an Internet cafe will do it for the rest of us.
In most other parts of the world, you can send e-mails from your mobile phone for free if you can be bothered
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Email is still a losing proposition here:
1. Only business plans actually give you one with your mobile phone, and that costs extra anyway. You won't be able to use your ISPs one because if it's configured correctly they won't allow connections to their SMTP server from outside their network.
2. You nearly always have to configure it manually, which means knowing what an SMTP and IMAP server actually
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The GP could have phrased things better but he is essentially correct. In the developing world and the "wealthy" but space constrained world people generally do not own computers, they go to the local cafes which are plentiful and inexpensive. Cafes in the US are expensive because they serve a different demographic. Perhaps too many teenagers who couldn't talk their dads out of buying a cele
I'd expect it to be higher (Score:4, Insightful)
How about over 60?
These groups are overwhelmingly not emailers (yes I know a few members of either of these groups will trump up "I do" - you've self-selected so you're not representative)
Once you take these groups out, you probably have about 80% of the population. I'd have to say that I doubt if all, or even close to all, the remainder have used email. Therefore I assume the total of never-emailed is higher than the 20% cited.
However, in the grand scheme of things, so what? People can lead full and happy lives without technology. Hard as it may be for the tech-obessed to even consider it, not everyone is like them.
poverty part of the cause? (Score:5, Interesting)
Poverty in the United States is cyclical in nature with roughly 12% to 15% living below the federal poverty line at any given point in time, and roughly 40% falling below the poverty line at some time within a 10 year time span.
if you are living below the poverty line then a computer and the increasingly large amount of power it uses are a unavailable luxury.
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Why call them Luddites? (Score:5, Insightful)
My mom and dad are definitely not Luddites, my mom used to be a Cobol programmer and my dad taught me electronics when I was small; they simply don't see any need for a computer in their home. They have cell phones, a 5.1 channel sound system, and DirectTV; but no computer.
When people see no need for televisions in their homes, should they also be called Luddites?
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Doesn't homes come with integrated tvs? I mean, if you don't have a tv where are you supposed to plugin the PS3?
No surprise (Score:2, Insightful)
Choice? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think people underestimate the amount of poverty - even in the US, where the official definition of poor still most often includes obesity, a car, 2 televisions, airconditioning, and other things seen as luxuries across most of the world.
If you have a family of 4, and are making a combined income of ~$30k/year, and have payments to make for housing/car/food/medical, you might be stretching to pay the PHONE bill much less have luxury money to spend on frivolities like a web connection. And yes, they are frivolities: if all of your friends are in similar financial circumstances, you have even less incentive because they aren't going to be online EITHER. Finally, even the web is squeezing these folks out - browsing by modem SUCKS, and it seems that more and more sites are building fancy flash front-ends that take minutes to d/l at modem speeds.
Well duh (Score:3, Funny)
20% of Americans have NEVER used e-mail? (Score:2)
It is probably fair to suggest that many of the 20% in this situation have made a conscious choice to avoid computers with the same determination one would bring to avoiding a rabid dog.
Would it be unfair to note that according to the American Research Group, George Bush's job approval rating is somewhere around 20%, and speculate that perhaps members of one group may be just a tad over-represented in the other?
It might be illuminating to see what percentage of this group believe evolution is "just a t
I would say that is really good (Score:4, Insightful)
Admittedly, many of these factors are coexistent but 20% sounds really good all things considered.
Where are the statistics? (Score:2)
It's an interesting article, but it seems to have much ties to the truth as any book by James Dobson.
I miss the days when publishers were accountable for providing facts to back up their words.
In other news... (Score:2)
Film at 11.
Same here in the UK... (Score:2)
And the illiteracy rate is... (Score:5, Informative)
I'll bet 20% havn't used mail of any kind ... (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.shashitharoor.com/articles/newsweek/illiterate.php [shashitharoor.com]
From other sources about 11-12% of the US population is below the official poverty level, and I'll bet there's only partial overlap of that figure will the functionally illiterate group.
From that perspective 80% of households using e-mail seems remarkably high, especially for such a new technology with such a high barrier (computer ownership/literacy, internet access, intellectual curiosity) to entry.
Poverty... (Score:2)
Look at this more broadly (Score:3, Insightful)
The Pew Internet & American Life Project has some excellent information [pewinternet.org] about how Americans use Internet and mobile technology. Despite Slashdot, Twitter, MySpace, et. al., a huge slice of America only uses modern communications technology when they need to, while a smaller slice tries to avoid it.
For many people, technology is something they struggle to adapt to, rather than rush to embrace. It can be frustrating for these people, and very time-consuming. There's only so much time in the day, and if I weren't keeping up on the latest geekery, I could be using that time to read more history, ride my bike more, become a karate black belt, or whatever.
Most people are not technology-obsessed, and there will always be a certain percentage of the population that is too old to care about the latest new thing that makes it easier to hook up with barhopping friends or more easily consume huge libraries of P2P pr0n.
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most people over 70 don't use computers (Score:3, Insightful)
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"And a good percentage of that cant afford Internet service in the first place."
Just from my personal experiences here, but Even At a Group home, (if you've ever been to a group home, people there are getting over serious mental issues, or recovering from serious addictions) there was a mac set up so people could e-mail, the younger patients used e-mail the older ones tended not to, I'm actually kind of surprised that the
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If you didn't have an office job and half your family and friends weren't dispersed around the country or world, and you only used publicly provided internet like a library for essentials like taxes and job hunting, who would you email?
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Did you notice the part that said, "Never"? That would include at work, in a library (they have computers there, I hear,and they're hooked up to the internet, too. It's all the rage, these days), at a friend or neighbor's place, etc.
"Never" is the key. In the overwhelming number of cases, I simply don't see how "never" would be possible without a conscious decision to avoid on-line communication. In this day and age, occasional access is trivially simple, and the occasional need to reach family, heal