The Pew Research Center, the nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world,  recently released the report, The Web at 25 in the U.S. 

What were the report’s findings?   “The internet has been a plus for society and an especially good thing for individual users” proclaims its subtitle. But we all knew that.

Here are some highlights from the report:

• 87% of American adults use the internet
• 90% of internet users say the internet has been a good thing for them personally
• 6% say it has been a bad thing, while 3% volunteer that it has been some of both
• 76% say the internet has been a good thing for society
• 15% say it has been a bad thing and 8% say it has been equally good and bad
• 53%  say the internet would be, at minimum, “very hard” to give up
• 49% of cell phone owners say the same thing about their cell phone
• 35% of all adults say their television would be very hard to give up (44% in 2006)
• 28% of landline telephone owners say their phone would be very hard to give up (48% in 2006)
• 70% report positive treatment by others online
• 24% report negative treatment

Social media did not command as great an appreciation.   Only 10% reported that they would find it very hard to give up social media.