Children's grades aren't hurt by time online, study shows

NEW YORK — One in every five American parents think their kids are spending too much time on the Internet, though most say the online activities haven't affected grades.

In a study to be released today by the University of Southern California, 21 percent of adult Internet users with children think the kids are online too long, compared with 11 percent in 2000. Still, that's less than the 49 percent who complain their kids watch too much TV.

About 80 percent of the children say the Internet is important for schoolwork, although three-quarters of the parents say grades haven't gone up or down since they got Internet access.

Forty-seven percent of the adults say they have withheld Internet use as a form of punishment. Banning television is still more popular, reported by 57 percent of adults surveyed.

The study has been conducted most years since 2000. Over that time, researchers have seen Internet use grow to 78 percent, from 67 percent. Access at home increased to 68 percent, from 47 percent.

In one of the few surveys to look at why people are offline, the study found the lack of a working computer most often to blame. Of the 22 percent of Americans who do not use the Internet, more than one-quarter are former users who dropped out.

"Almost nobody drops out out of dissatisfaction," said Jeffrey Cole, director of USC's Center for the Digital Future. "The reason most people drop off is they change jobs or their computer breaks."

But more than half of the former users have no intention of returning online, the most ever. Overall, 60 percent of nonusers have no plans to go online within the next year.

Cole said the numbers raise the prospect of a permanent group of nonusers. "Internet penetration has largely plateaued," he said.

Americans 66 and older remain the most disconnected, with 38 percent online. For all other age groups, at least 74 percent are online, with penetration hitting 99 percent for those 18 and younger, likely because most U.S. schools have some form of Internet access.

On average, users spend 14 hours a week online, compared with 9.4 hours in 2000.

Thirty-seven percent of home Internet users have dial-up accounts, compared with 26 percent for high-speed cable modems and 24 percent for DSL. Eleven percent of Internet users go online through mobile devices — not necessarily exclusively — averaging two hours a week.

The study revealed little change in the effect on television.

Thirty-six percent of home Internet users say they have spent less time watching TV since they started using the Internet, roughly the same as the 33 percent who said that in a 2001 survey.

The telephone survey of 2,269 U.S. households was conducted from February to April and included follow-up interviews with respondents to previous studies.

The study has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.