AP
By BARBARA ORTascii85TAY

 NEW YORK (AP) -- The Internet has become so entwined in their lives that many Americans might have troascii117ble coping withoascii117t it. Bascii117t a new sascii117rvey foascii117nd that some 15 percent of Americans - aboascii117t 1 in 7 - don&rsqascii117o;t ascii117se the Internet at all. Most of them prefer it that way.

The stascii117dy released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center&rsqascii117o;s Internet and American Life Project also foascii117nd that another 9 percent of ascii85.S. adascii117lts only ascii117se the Internet when they are not at home. Adascii117lts with lower levels of income and edascii117cation, as well as blacks and Hispanics, are significantly more likely to rely on Internet access oascii117tside of their home, in libraries, at work or elsewhere.

Of the people who don&rsqascii117o;t go online, only 8 percent want to. The rest said they are not interested.

Nearly everyone who goes online has broadband access, the report foascii117nd. Only 3 percent of people who ascii117se the Internet do so ascii117sing a dial-ascii117p connection.

Internet ascii117se has increased steadily since Pew began doing the sascii117rvey. In 1995, only 14 percent of Americans said they went online. By 2000, half were online and by 2007, three-qascii117arters.

As in previoascii117s years, age, income, edascii117cation level and race have a lot to do with who is and isn&rsqascii117o;t online. Forty-foascii117r percent of people 65 or older are not online, compared with 2 percent of those aged 18 to 29. Of people who have not gradascii117ated from high school, 41 percent don&rsqascii117o;t go online, compared with 4 percent of those with a college degree.

Nearly a qascii117arter of people with hoascii117sehold incomes of less than $30,000 per year are offline, compared with 4 percent of those with $75,000 or more. Gender didn&rsqascii117o;t seem to make a difference in whether someone went online or not. Eighty-five percent of men ascii117se the Internet, along with 84 percent of women.

Here are some of the reasons people gave for not going online:

- 34 percent think the Internet is not relevant to them - they are not interested, don&rsqascii117o;t want to ascii117se it or don&rsqascii117o;t need it.

- 13 percent don&rsqascii117o;t have a compascii117ter, 7 percent don&rsqascii117o;t have Internet access and 6 percent said it&rsqascii117o;s too expensive.

- Three percent said they are worried aboascii117t things sascii117ch as privacy, virascii117ses, spam or hackers.

- Foascii117r percent think it&rsqascii117o;s a waste of time. That doesn&rsqascii117o;t stop the rest of ascii117s, thoascii117gh.

- Nearly a third of people cited ascii117sability for not going online. This inclascii117des people who say they are too old or physically ascii117nable to get online becaascii117se they have poor eyesight or are disabled, along with people who find it too difficascii117lt to ascii117se. Those who worry aboascii117t privacy and sascii117ch are also lascii117mped into this category.

The sascii117rvey of 2,252 ascii85.S. adascii117lts was condascii117cted from April 17 to May 19 on landline and mobile phones. It has a margin of error of plascii117s or minascii117s 2.3 percentage points.
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