Stats Canada released a study today that confirmed a strong link between literacy and computer usage and the use of the Internet.
So it should not come as any surprise that we have the lowest rates of literacy and the lowest rates of Internet usage right here in New Brunswick.
The study has some interesting findings around Internet usage in Canada. Some might get a chuckle at these stats. Of the many reasons why people use the Internet, the only categories where there is a higher percentage of New Brunswickers relative to the national average are:
Playing online games.
Searching for weather information.
Shopping.
Music downloads.
Where we are much below the national average:
Reading news (by the way NS was way higher on this one)
Searching for government info
Banking (we were the lowest in Canada – by far)
Searching for employment
Other interesting findings:
New Brunswickers are the lowest users of cel phones among the ten provinces
Second lowest users of faxes
In conclusion, what do you think is the category of computer usage where New Brunswick beats all other provinces? Your options are:
Playing Games?
Accounting or spreadsheet analysis?
Creating graphics/designs, etc.?
Programming?
If you guessed accounting/spreadsheet analysis, you must be living in Alberta. NB was dead last in Canada for this category. No, we have the dubious distinction of using the computer the most for playing games.
Guess we have our priorities :-).