How Well Do Americans Know the Internet?

Source: Statista

The rapid pace of technological development in fields like so-called artificial intelligence, cybercrime and data protection — or the lack thereof — can overwhelm more casual observers. Still, our increasingly digital lifestyles require a basic understanding of various concepts if harm is to be successfully prevented. As our chart based on a 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center shows, many U.S. residents lack this basic understanding of more recent phenomena.

For example, 42 percent of respondents to the survey, which was conducted in May 2023 among more than 5,000 U.S. adults and utilized a random sample weighted against the United States average in terms of age, gender, voter registration and other indicators, know for certain what a deepfake is, a “seemingly real, computer-generated image, video or audio of something that did not occur”. 32 percent answered correctly how a large language model like OpenAI‘s GPT-4 works, which in this case was “create a response based on word patterns and relationships it previously learned from text pulled from the internet”.

An even lower percentage of respondents know that there is no national law regulating data protection in the United States and offered the correct answer to the age below which data from children can’t be collected without parental consent, which is 13. When it comes to digital literacy, apart from knowing which tech entrepreneur owns which company, to what Facebook changed its name and which password out of four examples provided is the most secure, there’s one other aspect which a majority of survey participants got right: how cookies are used by websites and social media platforms.

Infographic: How Well Do Americans Know the Internet? | Statista

U.S. Economy Returns to Pre-Pandemic Growth Path

Source: Statista

When Covid-19 hit the United States with full force in early 2020, thousands of businesses were forced to shut down, millions of Americans lost their jobs within weeks and, as a result, U.S. gross domestic product plummeted by an unprecedented 28 percent in Q2 2020. At the time, there was a lot of uncertainty over how quickly the economy would bounce back, but now, almost four years later, it can safely be said that the recovery has been nothing short of impressive.

After total nonfarm employment returned to its pre-pandemic level in June 2022, the labor market has remained remarkably strong until now, despite the Fed’s best efforts to cool it down to tame inflation. More importantly though, the economy as a whole has also returned to its pre-pandemic growth trajectory, as consumer spending has proven surprisingly robust throughout the post-Covid recovery and the ensuing inflation crisis. According to the second estimate of Q4 and full-year 2023 GDP released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Wednesday, real GDP grew 2.5 percent in 2023, re-accelerating from 1.9 percent in 2022 despite the Fed’s restrictive policy stance.

As the following chart illustrates, Covid-19 did put a dent in U.S. economic growth but, thanks at least in part to generous stimulus spending in the early phase of the pandemic, it didn’t throw it off its trajectory permanently. Measured in chained 2017 dollars, U.S. GDP amounted to $22.37 trillion in 2023, up 8.1 percent from 2019, the last year unaffected by the pandemic. That equates to an average real GDP growth rate of 2.0 percent over the past four years, which is quite remarkable considering the global circumstances under which this growth was achieved.

Infographic: U.S. Economy Returns to Pre-Pandemic Growth Path | Statista

Have We Passed the Peak of the Smartphone Era?

Source: Statista

Despite the ongoing transition to 5G, which has thrown a lifeline to smartphone manufacturers struggling to keep up growth in the maturing smartphone market, global smartphone shipments dropped to the lowest level in a decade last year. According to estimates from IDC, smartphone vendors shipped 1.17 billion devices last year, down more than 20 percent from 2016, when smartphone shipments peaked at 1.47 billion units.

While many experts think that “peak smartphone” is already behind us, market research group IDC remains hopeful for the industry to return to growth in 2024 and beyond. “The tide has finally turned and it feels safe to say the worst is behind us,” Nabila Popal, research director at IDC, said in November 2023. “As we enter the new era of low single-digit growth and lengthened refresh cycles, it is clear the market is maturing. While the total available market will remain below pre-pandemic shipment levels throughout the forecast, the bright side is that average selling prices and market value will remain notably higher than before.”

Infographic: Have We Passed the Peak of the Smartphone Era? | Statista