DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A survey of Internet users around the world conducted by Microsoft Corp. shows an overwhelming majority believes personal technology is making the world a better place to live and has vastly improved how they shop, work, learn and generally get things done.
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There are nonetheless notable differences in certain attitudes toward personal technology between developed and developing economies. Developing countries express widespread enthusiasm about the benefits of technology - including its impact on social bonds, the sharing economy and personal fitness - while developed countries, where technology is more ubiquitous, express concerns about emerging issues.
Microsoft unveiled the results of its new survey Monday in advance of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The report, titled "Views from Around the Globe: 2nd Annual Poll on How Personal Technology Is Changing Our Lives," encompasses the views of 12,002 Internet users in 12 countries. This is the second year in a row that the company has commissioned the study.
"Internet users overwhelmingly say that personal technology is making the world better and more vital," said Mark Penn, Microsoft executive vice president and chief strategy officer. "But there is a digital divergence in the attitudes of Internet users in developing and developed countries regarding how technology will affect them going forward."
Among the overall findings of the poll are these:
As previously noted, attitudes toward technology in developing and developed economies diverged in several key emerging areas:
The poll was conducted between Dec. 17, 2014, and Jan. 1, 2015, and surveyed Internet users in Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the U.S.
The results were then weighted based on the size of the Internet populations in each of the 12 countries. The full findings can be found at http://blogs.microsoft.com/?p=45963.
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