Techie geekdom growing

Technology geeks, unite. There are more of you than you might have realized.

A study released Sunday found that 31 percent of Americans are "highly tech-savvy" people for whom the Internet, cell phones and handheld organizers are more indispensable than TVs and old-fashioned wired phones.

Survey results: From the archive IHC named among top 100 tech-savvy health systems – July 28, 2003 Wireless world – April 14, 2003 Tech next: Prognosticators envision an easy life through advanced electronics – April 14, 2003 Expectations high for Web – Dec. 30, 2002 Pew Internet & American Life

John Horrigan, author of the report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, said the size of this "tech elite" was somewhat surprising. And while this group is predominantly young, the Pew researchers found plenty of baby boomers and seniors who are equally ardent about using technology.

The difference, though, is that techies in their late teens and 20s are more likely to create online content, like Web logs, or "blogs." Generation Xers are more likely to pay for content on the Web, while wired Boomers and seniors generally plumb the Internet for news or to do work-related research.

Among these tech elites, the younger ones are most likely to leave behind traditional telephones and television. On the typical day, these people are nearly as likely to get their news from the Internet (39 percent) as from television (45 percent).

When asked whether it would be "very hard" to do without various technologies, a greater proportion said it would be very hard to do without a computer and cell phone than said that about the land line telephone or television.

"For some of the most enthusiastic tech users in America, the wireline telephone may be going the way of the transistor radio," Horrigan said.

Among other Pew findings on the "tech elite":

They spend, on average, a total of $169 a month on broadband Internet service, satellite or cable TV, cell phones and Web content. That is 39 percent higher than the national average, $122.

Some 29 percent have broadband connections, compared with 17 percent of everyone else.

About 7 percent have canceled their land line telephone and gone all-wireless. (Among all Americans with cell phones, 21 percent have seriously considered canceling their land line phone service.)

About half of the young tech-savvy group said they'd rather have a cable company for their Internet provider than a phone company or independent service provider.

Despite being plugged in to the Internet and other sources of data more often, only 13 percent of the tech-savvy crowd feels overwhelmed by information. By contrast, a sense of information overload plagues 25 percent of the rest of the population.

Pew produced the report after surveying 1,677 American adults in October 2002. The survey has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

For more information on the survey, go to www.pewinternet.

org.

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Contributing: Cox News Service