Latinos Online

In an increasingly wired United States, only slightly more than half of Latinos were using online media until the last few years. Many of those offline were recent arrivals in the country, lacking the resources — including education, language skills, and income — needed to join the digital community.

However, in a very short amount of time, Internet use among Latinos in the United States has rapidly grown. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that, between 2006 and 2008, the number of Latino adults going online increased from 54% to 64%. Latinos are now slightly more wired than African Americans, according to the Pew Center study.

What’s more, the study shows evidence that the increase in overall Internet usage among Latinos is largely due to those with less education, less income, and less English language proficiency. These groups grew a great deal percentage-wise, due in no small part to the fact that they had the most room for improvement. College-educated Latinos, for example, are already going online in droves, so there’s not as much margin for growth.

U.S. born, English-speaking Latinos are accessing the Internet much more than foreign-born Latinos in the United States, indicating that language continues to be a barrier preventing individuals from taking advantage of new technology. And those with higher incomes and higher levels of education were the most likely to have broadband connections at home. Notably, the digital divide continues to separate young and old: More than three quarters of adults under 35 are wired, as opposed to about one quarter of the over-65 set.

The surveys were conducted via telephone by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2006 and 2008. Only those with landlines were contacted — no cell phone numbers were dialed — which, the study’s authors point out, allows for a certain margin for error.

More and more individuals in the United States are relying exclusively on cell phone use, and the study’s authors note those who only use cell phones are likely to be a little more tech-savvy than those who can still be contacted over landlines. Their research shows that the percentage of cell phone-only Latino households was 25% in 2008, up from 15% in 2006. Therefore, it’s likely that the study’s results may slightly underestimate the total percentage of online Latinos. — Aaron M. Cohen

Source: Pew Hispanic Center, www.pewhispanic.org.