Tech News
The Latino Digital Divide: The Native Born versus The Foreign Born
By Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher, Pew Hispanic Center
Jul 29, 2010, 12:57

Technology use among foreign-born Latinos continues to lag behind that of their U.S.-born counterparts. The differences are especially pronounced when it comes to internet use. While 85 percent of native-born Latinos ages 16 and older go online, only about half (51 percent) of foreign-born Latinos do so. When it comes to cell phones, 80 percent of native-born Latinos use one, compared with 72 percent of the foreign born.

While rates of technology use among native-born Hispanics are relatively high, technology use for the full population of Hispanics continues to lag behind the use rates of the non-Hispanic population. When it comes to internet use, some 64 percent of Latinos ages 18 and older go online, compared with 78 percent of non-Latinos. More than three-fourths (76 percent) of Latinos use a cell phone, compared with 86 percent of non-Latinos.

Among youth ages 16 to 25, non-Hispanics are approaching near-universal internet use, but the rate is markedly lower for Hispanics. Some 95 percent of non-Hispanics ages 16 and 17 go online, as do 96 percent of those ages 18 to 25. Among Hispanics in both age groups, the internet use rate is 77 percent.

The ethnic gap in cell phone use is less pronounced, though still significant. Some 82 percent of non-Hispanics ages 16 and 17 use a cell phone, compared with 72 percent of Hispanics. Among those ages 18 to 25, 94 percent of non-Hispanics use a cell phone, as compared with eight-in-ten (80 percent) Hispanics.

This report is based primarily on the 2009 National Survey of Latinos, which was conducted from August 5 through September 16, 2009 among a randomly selected, nationally representative sample of 2,012 Hispanics ages 16 and older. The survey was conducted in both English and Spanish, on cellular as well as landline telephones. For the total sample, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.