Net Use Holding Steady, Survey Finds

Despite the growing pile of failed dot-com companies, Internet usage has remained steady, a survey found.

Overall, more than half of those surveyed said they used the Internet the same amount as they did six months ago. Twenty-nine percent used it more, and 17% used it less, according to the survey released Monday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

And spending less time online wasn’t necessarily a rejection of the Net: Some users said they had become proficient or installed faster connections and needed less time to get the same information.

Of the users who reported spending more time online, most said they need it more for school or work, had found more things to do online or have better access.

Those who reported spending less time online said they are not as interested or are facing a time crunch.

The survey also found that only 8% of U.S. Internet users have seen one of their favorite sites go out of business. Of that group, only one-fifth are spending less time online.

“They are able to find other things online to substitute for what they lost,” said Lee Rainie, the project’s director. “For all the trouble of dot-com companies, there is still plenty of building-out going on online.”

In May, Telecommunications Reports International found a slight drop in home online subscribers for the first time since the research group began tallying subscriber levels 21 years ago.

Late last year, Nielsen/NetRatings found average surfing time had dropped by 15%, from 17.5 hours in October to 14.9 hours in December.

But those findings appear to reflect temporary conditions.

The TRI study attributed the drop to the closure of several free Internet service providers. The decreases were almost made up by increases in paid dial-up and cable modem subscribers.

Overall, the drop was 0.29%, to 68.5 million, in the first quarter of this year.