15-percent of the US don't want to connect with the rest of us

Not to call out my parents, but neither is online -- they do not own a computer or tablet and, only last week, my mom was rather forcefully pushed into the smartphone world thanks to an aging flip phone. I can at least partially forgive them -- they are not young and these new-fangled gadgets lose them, though others in the same age bracket seem to have moved along with the times.

At any rate, the couple is not alone according to a new report announced by Pew Research. A full 15-percent of Americans are offline and, of those, 94-percent plan to stay that way.

"Most offline adults either don't see the Internet as relevant to them, or feel that it would not be worth the effort. And though many have had some experiences with the Internet in the past, most non-Internet users say they are not interested in going online in the future", says Pew's Kathryn Zickuhr.

The survey found that 34-percent of those offline Americans claim the Internet is not relevant to them, that they are not interested, do not want to use it, or have no need to use it. Meanwhile, another 32-percent claim they perceive it as too difficult or, worse, overrun by hackers and spam. Only 19-percent cited expense as the reason for the disconnection.

My parents are in similar company, as 44-percent of this group fall into their age bracket of 65 and older. On the other hand, 87-percent of those in the 18-29 demographic are connected to the web in some way.

Perhaps not surprising, "those with lower incomes or less education, and Hispanics were also less likely to go online. Some 41 percent who failed to finish high school were not using the Internet, as were 24 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of those in households earning less than $30,000 per year, according to the researchers".

The report was conducted between April 17 to May 19 of this year and based on a sample size of 2,252 adults. Aside from those without the financial means to afford an ISP, it seems the majority of this number is comprised of those who grew up and worked without the technology and now feel they are too old to change.

Perhaps there is still time to sway my folks away from their disconnected world. Maybe the new smartphone will kindle a spark.

Image Credit: Everett Collection / Shutterstock