The proportion of Americans who view the internet as a “good thing” for society has diminished by six percentage points during the past four years, according to a newly released Pew Research Center poll.
Seventy percent of U.S. adults recently surveyed described the internet as being beneficial to society, down from 76 percent when pollsters asked the same question in early 2014, Pew said Monday.
While the vast majority of respondents — 88 percent — described the internet as having a positive affect on their own lives, “Americans have grown somewhat more ambivalent about the impact of digital connectivity on society as a whole,” Pew explained.
“This shift in opinion regarding the ultimate social impact of the internet is particularly stark among older Americans, despite the fact that older adults have been especially rapid adopters of consumer technologies such as social media and smartphones in recent years,” Pew added, noting that 64 percent of adults ages 65 and older described the internet as mostly good for society, down from 78 percent in 2014.
Seventy-four percent of respondents ages 18 to 29 described the internet as a good thing for society, meanwhile, down slightly from 79 percent four years earlier.
Among the 70 percent who said the internet has had a positive impact on society, 62 percent attributed their answer to technology’s ability to make information easier and faster to access, while 23 percent credited its ability to connect people and put them in touch with one another, Pew reported.
“By contrast, those who think the internet is a bad thing for society gave a wider range of reasons for their opinions, with no single issue standing out,” Pew said.
The latest results stem from telephone interviews conducted in early January among a group of 2,002 adults, the pollster reported.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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