---
title: "What people do online"
description: "An overview of our findings about who's online and what they do on the Web."
date: "2005-02-09"
authors:
  - name: "Lee Rainie"
    job_title: "Former Director, Internet and Technology Research"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/lee-rainie/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2005/02/09/what-people-do-online/"
categories:
  - "Digital Divide"
  - "Online Search"
  - "Platforms & Services"
tags:
  - "Digital Divide"
  - "Generations"
  - "New Media Ecology"
---

# What people do online

This is an overview of the things we have discovered about the activities people do online, the nature of the digital divides in internet access, the special uses people make of the internet when they have health problems or deal with government or seek spiritual material.