The next edition of Online safely off to press, I've been reading through the lengthy Pew Internet & American Life survey on broadband (link downloads a PDF file - Adobe Acrobat reader needed to view). It makes for very interesting reading.
My favourite bit so far? "...there is an emerging broadband lifestyle. Those living that life do more work at home, less TV watching, more online news-gathering, and spend less time shopping in stores... the sheer scope of things that the broadband elite do online suggests that the term 'killer app' is a misnomer for this set of internet users."
I'm all for spending less time watching TV, and shopping (and I know all those things are true for me since I got broadband at home). But I'm not sure how broadband has changed these users' behaviour - the "broadband elite" may be the kind of early adopters already immersed in the internet, and broadband has simply allowed them to indulge their passion for unearthing and sharing knowledge without running up a vast phone bill.
But I don't doubt that this broadband elite exists (you'd suspect most of its members write weblogs), and it poses some interesting questions, not least: could a new digital divide open up, not just between the wired and unwired, but between the "broadband elite" and everyone else plodding along with dial-up?
