Slashdot: More than Half of the World's Population is Now Online

More than Half of the World's Population is Now Online
Published on June 12, 2019 at 12:30AM
Mary Meeker, the general partner at venture capital firm Bond Capital, delivered a 333-page slideshow that looked back at every important internet trend in the last year and looks forward about what these trends tell us to expect in the year ahead. Some takeaways: 51% of the world -- or 3.8 billion people -- were internet users last year, up from 49% (3.6 billion) in 2017 and only 24% in 2009. Growth slowed to about 6% in 2018. The percentage of U.S. adults who say they're "almost always online" has grown from 21% three years ago to 26%. The percentage of U.S. adults trying to limit personal smartphone use has grown from 47% in 2017 to 63% in 2018. Apple, Google, Facebook, and YouTube have all rolled out tools to help users monitor their usage. People are more concerned about privacy than a year ago (but these high concerns are moderating). Encrypted messaging and Web traffic are rising. And yet, U.S. users still view the internet as a positive for themselves (88%) and society (70%), though both metrics have slightly decreased since 2014.

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