Newsrooms are making enormous strides in championing digital content, but it's always worthwhile to remember not everyone is poised to reap the benefits of this work.
A new U.S. study shows one in five households has never used e-mail.
The Parks Associates survey indicates nearly three in ten households has never used a computer to create a document. And one in five has never looked up a Web site, searched for information online, or exchanged e-mail.
The study estimates some 20 million U.S. households aren't connected, and that only seven per cent of them have plans to get online in the next year.
Older and less-educated Americans are the largest cohorts in this unconnected minority. More than one-half of those who hadn't used e-mail were over 65, and 56 per cent of the non-e-mailers didn't have more than a high-school education.
The numbers are in decline --- last year's study found 29 per cent were not connected --- and while economics might play some role in the digital divide, the report's authors believe the larger problem is that those not online just don't see a reason to be there.
