Le Pew

The wonks at the Pew Internet & American Life Project just released a report on the various kinds of information-technology users, abusers, and snoozers. Pew found that while heavily-wired "omnivores" constitute about 8% of all Americans, 26% of us are either very occasional and unsophisticated users of the web, cell phones, etc., or don't use such things at all. This seems like a staggeringly high number, but then I started to think about my extended circle of relations, and, yeah, about a quarter can be described with one of those descriptors.

You can take a condensed version of their survey to figure out where you fall in their typology. I came out as a "connector," a group which makes up 7% of the populace: "Connectors combine a sense that information technology is good for social purposes with a clear recognition that online resources are a great way to learn new things. Their cell phones have a lot of features, and they also try new things with technology; more than half have watched TV programming on a device like a laptop computer or cell phone."

Hey, I can't be faulted if I have to watch al-Jazeera over the web! Charter doesn't carry it!