“Surveying the Digital Future” — the longest-running study that explores the views and behavior of Internet users and non-users — has been released by USC Annenberg’s Center for the Digital Future.

Now in its 15th year, the report chronicles findings on more than 160 issues, among them:

• The growing importance of the internet in political campaigns
• Views about government regulation and the internet
• Online buying and effects on traditional retail shopping
• The internet and personal freedom
• The reliability of onsite information
• Conflicts between social media and face-to-face contact with family and friends
• Privacy and personal security
• Children and the internet
• Online connection to companies
• Negative attention online (bullying and sexual harassment)

2017 Digital Future Report: Background

The Digital Future Report has been produced annually by the Center for the Digital Future since 2000. It is the longest continuing study of its kind, and was the first to develop a longitudinal panel study of the views and behavior of internet users and non-users in the United States. The current survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.0 percent. The study’s broad categories are: internet users and non-users, media use and trust, consumer behavior, communication patterns, and social effects.

The Center for the Digital Future

Since 1999, the Center for the Digital Future in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has examined the behavior and views of a national sample of internet users and non-users in major annual surveys of the impact of the digital technology on America. The center also created and organizes the World Internet Project, which includes similar research with 32 international partners.  

To view the report and previous studies, visit http://www.digitalcenter.org/.