YNOT – Some 88 percent of U.S. adults owned a cell phone of some kind in April 2012, and more than half of them — 55 percent — use their phones to go online. Thirty-one percent of cell owners use their phones as their primary internet connection, eschewing desktop and laptop computers. That works out to 17 percent of all adult cell owners who are cell-mostly internet users — that is, who use their phones for most of their online browsing.

So says a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which in 2009 found only 31 percent of U.S. mobile phone owners used their devices to connect to the web. At the time, email was the primary online activity cell users conducted on their phones.

In 2012, young adults and non-whites are especially likely to use their cell phones for the majority of their online activity. Nearly half of all 18-29 year olds (45 percent) who use the internet on their cell phones do most of their online browsing on their mobile devices. Roughly half (51 percent) of African-American cell internet users do most of their online browsing on their phones — double the proportion of whites (24 percent). Two in five Latino cell internet users (42 percent) also fall into the “cell-mostly” category.

Those with annual household incomes of less than $50,000 per year and those who have not graduated college are more likely than those with higher incomes and educations to use their phones for most of their online browsing.

The majority of “cell-mostly” internet users pointed to three primary factors influencing their behavior:

• Cell phones are convenient and always available. Sixty-four percent of cell-mostly internet users mentioned factors related to convenience or the always-available nature of mobile phones when asked for the main reason why they do most of their online browsing on their cell phone.
• Cell phones fit people’s usage habits. Eighteen percent of cell-mostly internet users said their online habits, or the habits of those around them, made their cell phone a simpler, more effective choice for going online. Just under one in ten (7 percent) said they do mostly basic activities when they go online and do not require a more advanced device, while 6 percent said they simply find their cell phone easier to use than a traditional computer.
• Cell phones fill access gaps. Ten percent of cell-mostly internet users pointed to a lack of other access options as the main reason they primarily use their phone to go online, with 6 percent saying they do not have access to a computer and 4 percent saying they do not have any other source of internet access beyond their mobile connection.

The statistics resulted from a national telephone survey of 2,254 Americans age 18 and older conducted between March 15 and April 3, 2012. The sample included 903 interviews conducted on the respondent’s cell phone. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.

The complete report is available here (PDF).