The Internet: Can't Live Without It

Today Cisco released the results of their second Connected World Technology Report. 1,441 College Students, ages 18 to 24, and 1,412 Employees, ages 21 to 29 participated in the survey. The results, as you may expect, are similar to what was revealed in last years release.

To this group, the Internet is a must-have. To some, particularly those located in India, China, Germany and Japan, Internet access is more important than owning transportation. A little over one-third (32%) of College Students indicate the Internet is as important to them as water, food, air and shelter. 40% of all college students consider Internet access more important than dating and social activities. Over 50% of both groups said they could not live without Internet access.

Seriously?? Can't live without it?

Okay, aside from the over-the-top answers like, "can't live without it", it's worth it to download the reports and review the information. I have yet to get through it all but there were a few things that caught my eye.

Being someone that follows the chip industry I will admit to cracking a smile when I saw that 45% of the College Students and 36% of the Employees said laptop computers are the primary tool they use to get information and news. As much as we like to talk about mobile phones and the growth they are enjoying, in China 2/3rds, or 67%, of their College Students were using laptops to get their Internet content.

(Hey! I thought the PC was dead?)

Smartphones are important. They were as used as the primary device for finding information and news by 10% of the College Students and 11% of the Employees. In Spain, 36% of the College Students were using a smartphone as the primary way to get information. In Australia, 1 in 4 Employees were using a a smartphone as their primary gathering tool.

The type of hardware used tends to vary quite a bit when looked at on a regional basis but one over-riding theme is very clear, no matter what the device is, College Students and Employees would like to be able to choose what they use to access networks anywhere, anytime.

If you are interested in these trends there's much more in the report.