About 42 percent of rural Nebraskans regularly surf the Internet, and the same percentage use e-mail, according to the seventh annual Rural Poll conducted by the University of Nebraska. That is up from 8 percent for Internet usage and 13 percent for e-mail from the 1997 poll.
Regular use of personal computers and cellular telephones also jumped, from 30 percent for both in 1997 to 49 percent for computers and 47 percent for cell phones this year.
"That's pretty rapid diffusion of this technology," said John Allen, the NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources rural sociologist who heads the survey.
The poll results mirror national survey figures looking at computer use in rural areas, said Becky Vogt, the rural poll's manager.
Despite the increased Internet usage, few rural Nebraskans routinely buy things online, the poll showed.
Only 7 percent said they regularly buy items via the Internet and 62 percent said they do not. Another 31 percent occasionally or rarely purchase online.
Answering machines were the most commonly used information technology, with 65 percent of respondents saying they were regular users, up from 55 percent in 1997. Other technologies asked about in the poll were cable TV (53 percent), satellite TV (31 percent), fax machines (17 percent) and telemedicine (2 percent).
The rural poll is mailed in March to randomly selected rural residents in Nebraska's 87 rural counties. This year's results are based on 2,841 responses. The response rate was 44 percent. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.
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