Germany/USA comparison shows:
American Internet conditions are a legend

The computer industry has signalled an acute need for action: On the way to the information society, Germany is said to be "miles or years behind" the USA. The backlog in the use of PCs and the Internet can hardly be made up. The developing country Germany is said to have been "left behind" by the Internet country USA. In reality, three quarters of all Americans want nothing to do with the Internet and prefer to "zap" through TV programmes instead. Only one in four Americans (25%) uses the global data network Internet at least once a week for private consumption, information or entertainment purposes, while the rest prefer to play the role of passive TV viewer between films and game shows. This is the result of a recent representative survey of 3,000 people in Germany and the USA respectively, in which the Leisure Research Institute of British American Tobacco asked Germans and Americans about their media habits for the first time in a two-country comparison.
"Lots of wind and few surfers," says Prof Dr Horst W. Opaschowski, head of the institute. "Most Germans, as well as the majority of Americans, are computer grouches". 83 per cent of Germans and 70 per cent of Americans do not make regular use of PCs at home. They prefer to stick to their old media habits of listening to the radio (D: 73% - USA: 66%) and watching television (D: 95% - USA: 93%). And the hope for the new generation @, which has grown up with computer culture, will not be fulfilled so quickly. The vast majority of 18 to 29-year-olds are not interested in the PC as an everyday medium and refuse to use it (D: 66% - USA: 63%). "In five years" time, the Internet will still not be a mass medium like television," says Professor Opaschowski. "Consumers, who have been accustomed to comfortable armchair screen fun for decades, want to continue to be entertained. Those who have been constantly passive up to now will not suddenly be able to be active or interact without limits. The spread of the Internet is not a question of years, but of one or two generations."

Hopeful info-elite:
Between high school and university

In both countries, life online has become a question of education. Networked living and working environments are part of everyday life. One in five American high school graduates (20%) and one in five respondents with a secondary school leaving certificate (20%) in Germany regularly use a PC at home, compared to 34 per cent of grammar school graduates. And 52 per cent of German university graduates are regular home PC users. In the USA, 49 per cent of respondents with a college degree and 54 per cent of post-graduates are PC users. The information elite in Germany has not slept through the so-called new economy. Quite the opposite: the info elite is well on the way to catching up with the Americans, even overtaking them.

Germany/USA:
E-commerce on the slow lane

There is a lot of talk and speculation about e-commerce in Germany and the USA. But the reality gives no cause for euphoria. In both countries, private consumers make little use of teleshopping, electronic travel bookings and buying books by PC (less than 3% in each case). Home banking is practised by 5 per cent of Americans and 3 per cent of Germans. Companies worldwide are going online, but private consumers are largely sticking to their consumption and shopping habits. Opaschowski: "B2C, business to consumer, will remain just a nice little add-on business for the foreseeable future."
The more the new information technologies spread in everyday life, the greater will be consumers' need for personal contact, for seeing and being seen, e.g. when shopping. Because: the senses continue to consume.

Mobile phones as a youth cult:
The new umbilical cord to the clique

Making mobile phone calls has become a new basic need for young people, one of the most important and time-consuming everyday activities. Young people now want to talk to friends on the phone more than they want to meet up with friends. The mobile phone is the new umbilical cord to the outside world and to the clique. Institute Director Opaschowski: "The mobile phone is like a motorway - once it's there, the traffic comes all by itself."
Young people aged between 18 and 29 make regular use of this in Germany and the USA (25% each). An equalisation has also taken place here. Young people are investing more and more time and money in this new form of telecommunication. In the past, it was just a case of "See you later"; today, people say to each other: "We're on the phone." PCs and mobile phones can develop into new money-sucking machines. In Germany and the USA, young people will spend more money on mobile phones and e-mail than on cinema and pubs.

"Digital Divide":
The digital divide in society

In Germany and the USA, life online has become a question of education. Networked living and working environments are increasingly becoming part of everyday life. One in five American high school graduates (20%) and one in five respondents with a secondary school leaving certificate (20%) in Germany regularly use a PC at home, compared to 34 per cent of grammar school graduates. And 52 per cent of German university graduates are regular home PC users. In the USA, 49 per cent of respondents with a college degree and 54 per cent of post-graduates are PC users. The info elite in Germany has not slept through the so-called new economy. Quite the opposite: the German info elite is well on the way to catching up with or even overtaking the Americans.
On the other hand, the speed of the information elite also has its downsides. What has been on the horizon in the USA for years has now also become a reality in Germany: the "digital divide", the digital division of society into citizens with and without internet skills. The digital gap between individual population groups is widening. In the USA, anyone without a college or post-graduate education belongs to the information underclass and is practically excluded and marginalised from access to the internet and online services, i.e. "eXcluded". This new Generation X without information literacy includes the majority of the population in both countries without a higher education qualification. In the American and German two-class society of the (internet) knowledgeable and the ignorant, the proportions are exactly the same down to the percentage point: Grade school graduates and elementary and secondary school graduates (3% each) as well as secondary school and high school graduates (7% each) are hardly represented in the internet world community.
By contrast, more than one in four university graduates in Germany (27%) regularly use online services. In the USA, almost every second post-graduate graduate (47%) surfs the internet. This indicates a digital education gap between Germany and the USA. The two countries are worlds apart in terms of higher education, as almost three quarters of German university graduates (73%) are not regular internet users. The German educated elite will fall behind if they continue to resist this new source of information. But perhaps the services offered on the Internet to date are simply not attractive enough, so that non-use can also be interpreted positively: Those who refrain from using the Internet do not want to waste time.