February 04, 2011, 1:30 PM — If you are a U.S. citizen anywhere from 18 to 34 years old, there's a 95 percent chance that you own a cellphone, according to new research from Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.
(Also see: Study: Internet heavily used for seeking health info)
And there's only a 1 percent chance that you, a Millennial, own neither a cellphone, desktop or laptop computer, iPod or mp3 player, electronic game console, ebook reader or tablet. Which, I think, makes you Amish.
The study attempted to sort out gadget ownership by generation. There's a handy chart below, but here are some interesting highlights:
* Cellphone ownership declines as generations get older, though 84 percent of Older Boomers (57-65) own the devices. The only age group in which less than 50 percent own cellphones is what Pew calls the "G.l. Generation" (age 75 and older). Forty-eight percent of them own cellphones. Pew doesn't make a distinction between cellphones and smartphones. Hopefully it will in the next survey.
* Desktop computer ownership peaks in the Gen X generation (35-46), with 69 percent owning one of those quaint machines.
* Fifty-two percent of all adult Americans own laptops, but only Millennials (70 percent) and Gen X (61 percent) top 50 percent.
* Three percent of the G.I. Generation own iPods or mp3 players. Big-band music never sounded so good.
* Interestingly, the generation with the highest percentage of ebook reader ownership is Younger Boomers (47-56), at 7 percent, followed by Older Boomers at 6 percent.
* The youngest two generations (Millennials and Gen X) lead in tablet ownership, with 5 percent each.
Chris Nerney writes about the business side of technology market strategies and trends, legal issues, leadership changes, mergers, venture capital, IPOs and technology stocks. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisNerney.
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