Does the Rich World Take the Internet for Granted?

In many parts of the world, internet access is now a commodity. It's similar to electricity or running water in the sense that people no longer think about it as a luxury. It is just there. And, as is the case with many other things that are easily accessible, people tend to start taking it for granted. At least that's what the results of a survey carried out by Ipsos on behalf of the Centre for International Governance Innovation suggest.

According to the survey, the perceived importance of internet access for the personal well-being is considerably higher in regions where internet adoption is still far from universal. While people from the Middle East, Africa or Latin America consider the internet to be of crucial importance for their personal access to knowledge and information, for free speech and their economic future, respondents from Europe and North America are less convinced of the internet's significance to their personal lives.