Nearly a third of Latino adults rely on their smartphone for internet access, a new Pew study finds

Nearly a third of Latino adults without home broadband rely on their smartphones for internet access. New analysis by the Pew Research Center finds that 28 percent of U.S. Latino adults are smartphone dependent, meaning they rely on their handheld device for internet access as opposed to broadband—also known as high-speed internet. Smartphone dependency among Latinos has more than doubled over the last decade. In a digital age when access to the internet has become an essential tool for everyday life, not having broadband access can limit one’s access to online healthcare and education resources, as well as job growth opportunities, according to the Federal Communications Commission. “ We’re at a point where [internet access] is essentially mandatory for life in the United States, if you were going to participate in nearly any aspect of civic life, social life, economic life, political life—connectivity is required,” said Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Research Director Caroline Stratton.