Pew Research Center

Americans and Digital Knowledge

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that Americans’ understanding of technology-related issues varies greatly depending on the topic, term or concept. Some findings:

Who pays for local news in the US?

A majority of US adults believe their local news media are doing well financially (71%), even as only 14% say they have paid for local news themselves in the past year, either through subscribing, donating or becoming a member. Some key findings about who pays for local news in the US:

Key findings about the online news landscape in America

Key findings about the way Americans get news online – as well as how digital newsrooms in the US are faring:

Millennials stand out for their technology use, but older generations also embrace digital life

Millennials have often led older Americans in their adoption and use of technology, and this largely holds true today. But there has been significant growth in tech adoption since 2012 among older generations – particularly Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Some findings:

Why survey estimates of the number of Americans online don’t always agree

How many US adults use the internet? There is a lot of information available from large, high response rate federal surveys as well as from surveys conducted by Pew Research Center and other organizations. However, these different sources of information measure internet use in ways that can be tricky to reconcile.

Most US teens who use cellphones do it to pass time, connect with others, learn new things

Nearly all U.S. teens (95%) say they have access to a smartphone – and 45% say they are “almost constantly” on the internet. So, what exactly are teens doing with their cellphones? The vast majority (90%) of cellphone-using teens say their phone is a way to just pass time. Similarly, large shares of teen cellphone users say they at least sometimes use their phone to connect with other people (84%) or learn new things (83%). But while phones are a way for teens to connect with other people, they can also be a way to avoid face-to-face interactions.

Pluralities in most emerging economies believe government should ensure equal internet access

Internet use is rising in emerging economies, but access to fast, reliable service remains elusive to many living in these nations.

About a quarter of large U.S. newspapers laid off staff in 2018

Layoffs continue to pummel US newspapers. Roughly a quarter of papers with an average Sunday circulation of 50,000 or more experienced layoffs in 2018. The layoffs come on top of the roughly one-third of papers in the same circulation range that experienced layoffs in 2017. What’s more, the number of jobs typically cut by newspapers in 2018 tended to be higher than in the year before. Mid-market newspapers were the most likely to suffer layoffs in 2018 – unlike in 2017, when the largest papers most frequently saw cutbacks.

Americans have become much less positive about tech companies’ impact on the US

Four years ago, technology companies were widely seen as having a positive impact on the United States. But the share of Americans who hold this view has tumbled 21 percentage points since then, from 71% to 50%. Negative views of technology companies’ impact on the country have nearly doubled during this period, from 17% to 33%, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Nearly one-in-five (18%) now volunteer their impact has been neither positive nor negative or that it is mixed, or they offer no opinion.

5 key takeaways about the state of the news media in 2018

Some key findings about the state of the news media in 2018:

Trust and Distrust in America

Many Americans see declining levels of trust in the country, whether it is their confidence in the federal government and elected officials or their trust of each other, a new Pew Research Center report finds. And most believe that the interplay between the trust issues in the public and the interpersonal sphere has made it harder to solve some of the country’s problems. 

About one-in-five adult Twitter users in the US follow Trump. More follow Obama.

President Donald Trump is a prolific Twitter user, using the social media site to promote his policies and criticize his opponents. But determining just how many Americans follow President Trump on the platform is more challenging than it may sound: Twitter, after all, is an international platform used by institutional accounts and bots as well as living, breathing people in the US. A new Pew Research Center analysis estimates that around one-in-five adult Twitter users in the US (19%) follow Trump’s personal account on the platform, @realDonaldTrump.

U.S. newsroom employment has dropped a quarter since 2008, with greatest decline at newspapers

Newsroom employment across the US continues to decline, driven primarily by job losses at newspapers. And even though digital-native news outlets have experienced some recent growth in employment, they have added too few newsroom positions to make up for recent losses in the broader industry, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics survey data.

Public Highly Critical of State of Political Discourse in the US

Large majorities say the tone and nature of political debate in the US has become more negative in recent years – as well as less respectful, less fact-based and less substantive. One takeaway: By a wide margin (66% to 32%), more people say social media companies have a responsibility to remove offensive content from their platforms than say they do not have this responsibility. But just 31% have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in these companies to determine what offensive content should be removed.

Americans 60 and older are spending more time in front of their screens than a decade ago

The amount of time that Americans ages 60 and older spend on their TVs, computers, tablets or other electronic devices has risen almost half an hour per day over the past decade, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, even as screen time among younger people has more or less held steady. Those 60 and older – a group increasingly populated by aging Baby Boomers – now spend more than half of their daily leisure time, four hours and 16 minutes, in front of screens, mostly watching TV or videos.