Stuff We Need
 

STUFF WE NEED

Percent of Pew survey respondents who rated item as a necessity. First figure is for 2006, second is for suveys in 1996.

Car:91, 93

Clothes washer:90, 86

Clothes dryer:83, 62

Home A/C:70, 51

Microwave:68, 32

TV set:64, 59

Car A/C:59, 41

Home computer:51, 26

Cellphone:49, (not asked in '96)

Dishwasher:35, 13

Cable or satellite TV:33, 17

High-speed Internet:29, (not asked in '96)

iPod:3, (not asked in '96)

Sources: 2006 survey of 2,000 people by the Pew Research Center; 1996 survey by The Washington Post, Harvard University and Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

suprised computer is still 50%. The ammount of time they save just getting information to make informed decisions must not be realized yet. But, the increase from 96 probably offset the TV decrease.