According to our December 2012 survey, 81% of American adults use the internet. These are some of the things they do online. 

• If you would like to get information on how use of the internet has changed over time you can download a very large Usage Over Time spreadsheet, which has data stretching back to our early surveys in 2000 for the online activities we measure. The spreadsheet also contains extensive details about user demographics.
• This data is only for adult Internet users. For information about how teens (ages 12-17) use the Internet, please see our Teens topic page.

Note: This page will be updated whenever new data is available.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking surveys (March 2000–December 2012). Please note that the wording for some items has been abbreviated. For full question wording, please refer to the questionnaire.

While this list contains many of the activities the Pew Internet Project has asked about, it is not a comprehensive list. For a complete list of our activity tracking since 2000 please refer to the Usage Over Time spreadsheet.

* Item wording has changed slightly over time for the items marked with a single asterisk. Please see questionnaires for question wording.
~ Based on a series of questions about specific health topics.

Last updated: December 2012