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The United States gained millions of internet users between 2021 and 2023, but digital divides remain among some minority groups.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
Over 13 million new internet users came out of the U.S. within two years, from 2021 to 2023, but not all have benefitted equally.
The numbers, which are the results of a survey conducted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), revealed the progress made, and the gaps that remain when it comes to digital connectivity efforts nationwide.
The NTIA Internet Use Survey reported gains in categories like the number of people aged 3 and older in the U.S. that used the internet, up three precent from 2021.
According to the NTIA survey results, 83 percent of people aged 3 and older in the U.S. use internet in some form.
Internet adoption in low-income households also increased, up four precent from 2021 numbers, from 69 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2023, according to the NTIA’s summary of the survey results.
Still, 12 percent of people in the U.S. lived in households without internet connection, as of 2023. While that was down from 14 percent in 2021, the survey results spotlighted which groups are disproportionately impacted by a lack of connectivity.
“Only 62 percent of Black Americans, 57 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives, and 54 percent of Hispanics used a desktop, laptop or tablet,” wrote Rafi Goldberg, a senior policy advisor on digital equity, in a June blog post on the NTIA’s website.
Conversely, 72 percent of White non-Hispanics and 71 percent of Asians used a desktop, laptop or tablet in 2023, according to the survey’s results.
“The disparities we find when looking beyond overall Internet use suggest that, while our country is making great strides toward getting everyone online in some fashion, the quality and experience of connectivity still varies greatly,” Goldberg wrote.
According to Goldberg, the November 2023 survey was conducted to give the NTIA “solid, evidence-backed research to inform policies and programs.”
The same groups that are less likely to have a desktop, laptop, or tablet were also more likely to rely on smartphones as their only source for internet.
The survey found that 25 percent of Hispanics were “smartphone only” users. By comparison, only 12 percent of White non-Hispanics and Asians relied on a smartphone as their only source of internet access.
American Indians and Alaska Natives, at 22 percent, and Black Americans, at 16 percent, also were more likely than White non-Hispanic and Asian respondents to rely on smartphones for internet, according to the NTIA.
Goldberg wrote that the agency would continue to publish findings from the survey in the coming months.
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