It is no secret that the Internet touches the lives of people all over the world, but just how much does it touch them? The Internet Society conducted a survey of over 10,000 Internet users in 20 countries, from the United States to Argentina to South Africa to Saudi Arabia to China to Italy, to find out.

The Internet Society’s Global Internet User Survey revealed some interesting trends. For example, 83 percent of those surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that access to the Internet should be considered a basic human right. 96 percent of those surveyed said that they use the Internet at least once a day, and over 90 percent use social media (60 percent of those surveyed use social media daily).


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What is more interesting is the faith in which people have in the Internet. 63 percent believe that it can help reduce child mortality, 65 percent believe that it can improve maternal health, 61 percent believe that it can help eliminate extreme poverty and hunger, and 69 percent believe that it can help prevent the trafficking of women and children.

Although there is a great deal of good that the Internet provides, there are also some concerns. Nineteen percent of those surveyed replied that they were aware of circumstances in which their personal data had been used in ways that they “did not expect”, including: financial loss, unsolicited communications, private data becoming public, stolen personal data, and impersonation.

The complete survey, which offers an interesting glimpse into how the Internet is shaping the world, can be found here. Lynn St. Amour, the president and CEO of the Internet Society, stated that the survey was part of the Internet Society’s “vision of an Internet that is for everyone” and it “uniquely focuses on users and their experiences, attitudes, and opinions on how to meet the challenges and opportunities facing the Internet and society in general.”

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