201009301147.jpgThis is Not Comics, but it does shed some light on behavior. While we’re rounding up some scientific jargon, GigaOM reports that millennials need Wi-Fi the way previous generations needed fresh creamery butter. (Millennials are here defined as 17-29 year-olds.)

According to the survey, commissioned by the Wi-Fi Alliance, almost 70 percent of respondents said they spend more than four hours a day on a Wi-Fi connection. More than half of those polled in the U.S. consider Wi-Fi a necessity in restaurants and malls, and 64 percent of U.S. respondents and 89 percent of Chinese users stated it would be almost impossible to maintain many of their friendships without Wi-Fi. Denying them Wi-Fi would also darken their moods considerably: Three out of four U.S. respondents said they would be grumpier if they went without Wi-Fi access for a week compared to going a week without coffee or tea.


But…see next story!

1 COMMENT

  1. I don’t use wi-fi… I use my cell-phone (which does have a wi-fi option to save money on data plans).

    Verizon just announced a cap on unlimited data plans for cell phones, so wi-fi will become more prevalent in the future.

  2. *cough* Not that this is the story of my life or anything.

    Actually, I don’t have Wifi in my apartment because it’s small enough that I might as well hardwire my computer into the cable modem, but yeah. The point stands.

    No internet? WAY bigger deal than no caffeine.

    And wow, even your title hits home. I have precisely one friend who I didn’t meet directly or indirectly through the internet. All of my actual in-person RL flesh and blood friends who live in my neighborhood and I meet on a regular basis started out as icons online or people I met through groups and communities and parties organized online.