“Six in 10 American adults are now wireless Internet users, and mobile data applications have grown more popular over the last year,” the study’s summary of findings states.
With 90 percent of 18 to 29 years olds in the U.S. owning a cell phone, this demographic also has the highest levels of mobile-data application use. According to the report, 65 percent of the demographic access the Internet from a mobile device; 48 percent wirelessly access social networking sites and 40 percent have watched videos on their phone.
Continuing on a trend identified by last year’s Pew Research mobile access report, minority Americans are leading the way when it comes to mobile access.
Nearly two-thirds of African-Americans (64 percent) and Latinos (63 percent) are wireless Internet users, and minority Americans are significantly more likely to own a cell phone than their white counterparts (87 percent of blacks and Hispanics own a cell phone, compared with 80 percent of whites), the report shows.
The Pew Mobile Access 2010 report is based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 29 and May 30, 2010, among a sample of 2,252 adults aged 18 and older.