Sending and receiving email has supplanted research and homework as the primary reason students use the Internet in 2002 compared to our 2000 study.

In both studies, students were asked on an open-ended basis to describe their primary reasons for using the Internet and multiple answers were accepted.
Specifically, our most recent study found that the top three reasons students use the Internet is: to send or receive email (66 percent); for research or homework (50 percent); and for instant messaging (18 percent). By comparison, when we asked the same question in 2000, research and homework was the primary reason cited by 75 percent of respondents, email (53 percent), and entertainment or fun (22 percent). In both studies only 7-9 percent of respondents reported using the Internet to search for college or career information.

In the most recent study, a higher proportion of female students (72 percent) reported using the Internet to send or receive email compared to 56 percent of male students. Another interesting subgroup finding by gender: 20 percent of male students reported using the Internet for entertainment compared to 11 percent of females interviewed.

Other notable subgroup differences:

• Students intending to major in business were more likely to report using the Internet for college or career information compared to students planning to major in the social sciences, education, the humanities or the arts.
  
  
• Students from the Southwest were more likely to report that one of the major reasons they used the Internet was for college or career information compared to those from the Northeast, New England, and the Midwest.