Most Americans Have Only Reached the eBay Stage of Online Existence
While elitist urban bloggers fret over what the “online gig economy” will do our nation’s future, most American’s don’t even know what the fuck “Uber” means.
A new survey from the Pew Research Center reveals that although you, the sophisticated reader of Gawker.com, are intimately familiar with how to use “apps” and “Snapchat” to enhance your affluent daily life, the average American still operates in the equivalent of the Internet Middle Ages, when eBay was considered a cutting-edge advancement in consumer choice. Here are a few REAL survey results to give you an accurate picture of our nation outside of your elitist bubble:
- Only 27% of people have heard the term “sharing economy,” and only 11% have heard the term “gig economy.”
- More than half of Americans have not even heard of home-sharing sites like AirBnB.
- Only 4% of Americans have hired someone online to do a task or household errand for them.
The only category of online economic activity that reaches a 50% share of the population is “purchased used or second-hand goods online.” That would be eBay. By contrast, only 22% have “purchased handmade or artisanal products online” (Etsy), 15% have used ride-hailing apps (Uber) and only 6% have ordered grocery delivery online (Instacart).
If you are an upwardly mobile resident of San Francisco you live the least representative life in America. And thank god for that.
