America's Internet users

I was quite surprised by these numbers. According the a study conducted by Parks Associates as part of its National Technology Scan, 29% or 31 million households in the US that do not have Internet access and have no plans to get it anytime in the next year either. The main reason for not having Internet at home for 44% of these households was "that there was nothing in cyberspace that interested them", along with other reasons such as not having enough information on how to use it, or not being able to afford a computer, or using the Internet at work already.

Age was an important factor in determining a household's interest in the Internet. The two age groups with the highest percentages of non-subscribers were those who were 55 to 64 year olds (18.8 percent), and those 65 years old or more (38.7 percent), according to Parks.

"There's a generational effect going on," Barrett said. "There are some people that because of their age, the Internet really doesn't appeal -- doesn't resonate that well with them."

As the portion of the population born before the Internet shrinks, he said, so too will the number of households that don't have an Internet connection.