Latest Trends : Tracking the Trends in Technology

The available statistics on computer and Internet usage come from many sources and are not always in agreement, but
there is one clear trend – widespread penetration into mainstream American life, especially the lives of families with children.

Tracking Access
The rate of growth of Internet use in the United States is currently two million new Internet users per month.

There is still a digital divide in access as evidenced by the positive correlation of computer ownership with income and education.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/

Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA)
https://www.esa.doc.gov/

Harris Interactive
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/

Tracking Use
Children and teenagers use computers and the Internet more than any other age group.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/index.html

National Institute on Media and the Family
http://www.MEDIAFAMILY.org

Tracking Data Sources/Impacts

Three main sources of publicly accessible data to explain systematic patterns of family technology access and use:
the U.S. Bureau of the Census, research institutions affiliated with the Pew charitable Trusts, and
various commercial market research firms.

U.S. Bureau of the Census
http://www.census.gov/

Pew Charitable Trusts
http://www.pewinternet.org/

Information indicating the consequences of technology use for families can be found in selected foundations and agencies:

Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org

David and Lucile Packard Foundation
http://www.packard.org/

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
http://www.kff.org

National Center for Education Statistics
http://nces.ed.gov/

National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/

The HomeNet Project at Carnegie Mellon University
http://homenet.hcii.cs.cmu.edu/progress/

Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations
http://www.crito.uci.edu/

Project POINT
Project NOAH I and II
(National Outlook for Automation in the Home
University of California, Irvine
http://www.crito.uci.edu/noah/