What portion of the U.S. population uses the internet?
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above:
Describe the difference in internet use in the United States and the world today.
What portion of the U.S. used the internet in 1990?
What portion of the U.S. used the internet in 2020?
Describe the overall trend in internet use in the United States since 1990.
What would you say is the most important reason for that trend?
Big Brain Questions
Answer these questions by using your brain and any links below:
What do people who don’t use the internet use, where are they hiding, and what the heck did people do before the internet? But most importantly, is the trend described in the visual above good news?
Mostly, American internet use has zoomed upwards over the past half century. However, there have been a few exceptions where internet use has slightly declined as shown in the visual above. Speculate about what caused these declines.
Increasing internet use has upsides and downsides. Make a list of 3 pros and 3 cons of the internet and come to a conclusion about which side outweighs the other.
The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers which opposed the use of certain types of cost-saving machinery, often by destroying the machines in clandestine raids. A modern-day Luddite is a person opposed to new technology or ways of working. A neo-Luddite (modern-day) would definitely not have a TikTok account or even use the internet. Explain whether Luddites are right about their skepticism towards the internet and new technology in general, and whether they will be the last ones standing when AI takes over the world.
Describe how the trend illustrated in the visual above has impacted your own life and explain why you use the internet.
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
You are probably using the internet right now. After you finish this activity, spend the next 30 minutes without using the internet and make a list (with an actual pen and paper) of what you did with your time.
Get Creative
All but the tiniest portion of human history has been lived without the internet. The internet as we know it today didn’t really exist 50 years ago. Think about how life was different then. Make a creative response describing life before the internet.
Learn More
Check out this great Life Kit story and cartoon about life before the internet then listen to these life hacks about how to take a (short) break from the internet.
