Despite the recent travails of many information-technology sector businesses, Americans' love affair with the Internet is stronger than ever, a new study confirms.
"The Internet has become a mainstream information tool," the report released Sunday by the Pew Research Center said.
"Its popularity and dependability have raised all Americans' expectations about the information and services available online."
The Pew study found that more than 60 percent of Americans who now have Internet access have increasingly high expectations of the information they can find online.
The report said two-thirds of Americans now expect to be able to find information on health care, government services, news, and commerce on the Internet.
"Internet users are more likely than non-users to have high expectations of what will be available online, and yet even 40 percent of people who are not Internet users say they expect the Web to have information and services in these essential online arenas," it said.
About 80 percent of Internet users say they expect the Internet to have information on a variety of areas such as health care, government agencies, news, and shopping.
Of Internet users who have sought information from the Web on these topics, about three-fourths have had positive experiences in finding what they need.
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