A digital divide between Latino Americans and white Americans may be closing, but a divide still exists between native- and foreign-born Latinos, according to a report issued Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center.
The report, which examined technology consumption habits, defines foreign-born Latinos as those who were born in another country to parents who were not American citizens, including people born in Puerto Rico. (The island is a commonwealth of the United States whose residents are, in fact, citizens.)
Over all, more than three-quarters of Latinos in the United States used the Internet in 2012, a 14 percentage point increase from 2009, compared to 87 percent of whites, according to the report. Half of those who said they used the Internet were born in the United States; 79 percent of those who said they did not use the Internet were foreign born.
The vast majority of the Hispanic population, 86 percent, own a cellphone, while 49 percent own a smartphone, according to the report. Th percentages are similar to those for whites (84 percent own a cellphone, 46 percent own a smartphone) and blacks (90 percent own a cellphone, 50 percent a smartphone).
In contrast, 76 percent of foreign-born Latinos do not own cellphones and 58 percent of those who do not own a smartphone are foreign born.
Language also played a role in technology adoption among American Hispanics. According to the report, 72 percent of Latinos who use the Internet are either bilingual in Spanish and English or English dominant. On social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, 60 percent of those who use such sites do so mostly or entirely in English, 29 percent mostly or entirely in Spanish and 11 percent in both languages.
Tanzina Vega writes about advertising and digital media. Follow @tanzinavega on Twitter.
