Exploring the Digital Nation: America’s Emerging Online Experience

This report, based on data from the Census Bureau’s July 2011 Current Population Survey (“CPS”) Computer and Internet Use Supplement, updates and substantially expands on the previous study in this series, Exploring the Digital Nation: Computer and Internet Use at Home, issued in 2011. For the first time in eight years, this study goes beyond new findings on computer and Internet adoption in the United States to also present data on Americans’ online activities – what Americans do once they connect to the Internet. The dataset contains information collected from more than 53,000 households, reporting on what Americans do online – including enjoying entertainment, communicating with friends, job searching and training, and researching health conditions and care, among other activities.