Last updated April 12, 2019
According to a California statewide survey, Californians are twice as likely to use their cell phones for internet access as they were three years ago.
The survey, which was conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), went on to say that those who use their cells to go online also do it more often these days, with 59% saying they mobile surf several times a day (versus 30% in 2008). Only 9% said they only use the internet from their cells a couple of times a month; a big drop from the 35% who responded that way in 2008.
Here are some other statistics from the survey. The numbers in (parenthesis) represent the 2008 results:
• 93% of Californians have cell phones; 39% of those are smartphones.
• 56% go online via their desktops/laptops while 40% connect via cell phones (up from 19% and 26% in 2008).
• Ethnically, 57% of blacks (31%), 43% of whites (18%), 41% of Asians (24%) and 32% of Hispanics (16%) use their cells to access the internet.
• As a group, Hispanics are less likely to have a PC or internet access at home but twice as likely (as whites) to use their cell phones to go online.
“Californians are increasingly using their cell phones and a variety of other mobile devices to gather useful information throughout the course of their daily lives,” says PPIC’s president and CEO Mark Baldassare. “The growing use of cell phones for accessing the internet is changing the way that Californians relate to work, and this trend also has promise for reducing the digital divide.”