For one, nearly half of respondents (46%) report that using the Internet, email and cell phones have made them more productive on the job, with just 7% indicating a drop in productivity. While sizable majorities cite the importance of the Internet (61%) and email (54%) in doing their jobs effectively, 35% of Internet users still rely on landline phones, whereas roughly a quarter (24%) indicate that mobile or smartphones are more important to their jobs.
Perhaps most surprisingly, only 4% of the working adults surveyed feel that social networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) play an important role in their day-to-day jobs. Not unexpectedly, respondents indicate that their employers now take more of an interest as well in how staffers use the Internet and what they post online: 46% report that their companies block access to certain websites and have rules about online presentation. This latter figure has more than doubled since Pew first asked the question in 2006.