What the broadband industry doesn’t get — Internet users are not couch potatoes

WASHINGTON, D.C.-As Americans gain experience online, they use the Internet more for their jobs, to make more online purchases and carry out other financial transactions, and to write emails with more significant and intimate content.

A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project compares a group of Internet users’ online behavior between March 2000 and March 2001. The report on these findings, called “Getting Serious Online,” shows that over time Internet users become more purposeful, efficient, and self-assured in using the Web and email to support some of life’s most important activities.

“The Internet has gone from novelty to utility for many Americans,” says Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. “They are beginning to take it for granted, but they can’t imagine life without it.”

See here for full text of the report.