VANCOUVER – Most Canadians check e-mail and visit news web sites at least once a day, feel rather positive about the Internet and many personal digital devices, and rely on three distinct methods to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers, a new Angus Reid Strategies poll has found.
The poll, which collected results online from a representative national sample, paints a reasonably illuminating picture of Canadians with higher-than-average familiarity with the Internet, and their relationships with their personal gadgets, says the release.
Asked about how frequently they used a selection of online services, nearly two-in-three Canadians (64%) say they check e-mail at least once a day, and a further 31% say they check e-mail at least once an hour.
Over half (55%) visit news web sites at least once a day, and 22% look at social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) daily. But fewer use RSS feeds regularly (75% say they do not subscribe to RSS feeds), and about 12% say they visit blogs daily.
With regard to personal devices, cell phones rank highly with Canadians. Just 18% say they did not own a cell phone, and most view the phones in a very favourable light. Nearly one-third (32%) say that their lives are better because of cell phones, 20% say they are worth the price they pay, and 18% say they could not live without their phone.
In comparison, far fewer Canadians appear to own iPods and Blackberries – 60% say they do not own an iPod and 80% say they do not have a Blackberry, according to the survey.
Asked for impressions on the Internet in general and some specific online services, two-in-five Canadians (40%) say they could not live without the Internet, and over half (52%) say their lives are better because of it. In addition, 38% think the Internet is worth the price they pay for it, and 29% say it strengthens their sense of community with others.
E-mail also rates highly. Over one-third of Canadians (36%) say they cannot live without e-mail, and almost half (47%) say their lives are better because of it. A quarter also felt instant messaging services like MSN and ICQ strengthen their sense of community with others. And over half of Canadians (52%) say Google, the mammoth search engine, makes their lives better, adds the press release.
The last section of the survey found Canadians typically talk to family, friends, and co-workers using three distinct primary methods of communication.
With friends, Canadians are most likely to use e-mail to communicate with them (30%), followed by calls on a regular telephone (24%), and then in-person meetings (17%).
For family, calls via regular telephone are most popular (40%), then in-person meetings (23%) and e-mail (18%). Canadians 18-34 are more likely to see their family in person (34%), while those over 55 tend to use telephone calls (47%).
And Canadians are most likely to speak to their co-workers in person (36%), and then through e-mail (33%). But women, those in households earning more than $100,000 a year and those with university education are more likely to use e-mail over in-person meetings with colleagues.
"In general, younger, wealthier, and more educated Canadians rely more on technology than other demographics. These groups are more likely to use services like social networking sites and instant messaging, and are more likely to say they cannot live without the devices they own, or the online services they subscribe to," concludes the release, which can be viewed in all its charty entirety, here.
The survey was done from July 13 to 16, 2007, and was an online survey among a randomly selected, representative sample of 1,086 adult Canadians. The margin of error for the total sample is
+/-3%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
