One in five US adults does not use the internet: study

One in five US adults does not use the internet at all, according to a new report from the Pew Internet Project. They don’t use email, read newspapers online, check out friends’ photos on Facebook or waste time watching cat videos on YouTube.

The main cause? There’s no good reason to go online, 48 percent of respondents told Pew researchers. “They don't want to use the internet and don't need to use it to get the information they want or conduct the communication they want,” the report said, according to CNN.

Other common reasons the non-internet-users are living life unplugged: They don’t have access to a computer, it’s too expensive, it’s too difficult and it’s a waste of time, the survey-takers told Pew. Only about 20 percent of non-users said they knew enough about technology to go online if they wanted to, PC Magazine reported.

More from GlobalPost: Study: Social media users unfriend those with contrary political opinions

American adults who never go online tend to be older (59 percent of US senior citizens live internet-free), have less education (60 percent of high-school dropouts don’t use the internet) and be poorer (40 percent of people with an annual household income under $30,000 are offline), Pew researchers found, according to CNN.

Adults with disabilities were also less likely to use the internet, Pew said, according to PC Magazine. While 81 percent of adults without a disability go online, only 54 percent of respondents with a disability said they use the internet.

Most Americans who don't currently surf the web have never gone online before and live in an internet-free household, Pew researchers found, according to CNN.

For the survey, Pew researchers interviewed 2,260 adults, in English and Spanish, between July 25 and Aug. 26, 2011, PC Magazine reported.

More from GlobalPost: Burma: Ready for business?