Nearly 50% of College Students Would Give Up Beer Before Wi-Fi: Study

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

A study conducted by Wakefield Research for the Wi-Fi Alliance (go figure) indicates that college students now feel that wi-fi is nearly indispensible for their coursework.

The most unbelievable finding of the survey was that nearly 1/2 of respondents said they would give up beer before giving up wi-fi. Oh, come on!

Edgar Figueroa, executive director of the Wi-Fi Alliance, the global trade organization representing the Wi-Fi industry said:

“Wi-Fi has become a universal expectation among college students, and their attitudes towards technology are a good indicator of broad changes underway in how we as a society learn, work and communicate. Young adults expect access to information with unprecedented immediacy. Whether they are chasing a detail that will help them look smart in the middle of a class discussion, or are looking up a new friend on the Internet within minutes of meeting them - Wi-Fi enables the flexibility and freedom to access information from just about anywhere.”

Some of the findings from the study:

• 90% of U.S. college students in the United States say Wi-Fi access is as essential to education as classrooms and computers.

• Nearly 60% say they wouldn’t go to a college that doesn’t have free Wi-Fi

• 79% said that without Wi-Fi access, college would be a lot harder.

• 55% of undergraduates log inat coffee shops and restaurants

• 47 % of undergraduates login in parks

• 24% of undergraduates login in their cars

• 48% would give up beer before giving up Wi-Fi, if forced to choose (I find this hard to believe)

• 72% would rather wear their school rival’s team colors for a day than give up Wi-Fi

• 44% used Wi-Fi to get a head start on an assignment before a class was finished.

• More than half have checked Facebook or MySpace and sent or received e-mail while using their laptop in class.

• Just under half sent instant messages to a friend during class.

• The availability of Wi-Fi influences students’ choice of coffee shop (52%), bookstore (42%), and restaurant (33%).

A total of 501 U.S. college students from both large and small schools were given the survey in September. The sampling variation in the survey is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.