New Survey Finds Computer Units Have Positive Effect on the American Family

`Lexmark Report on Computing and the American Family' Finds Impact on Education, Communication and Financial Issues

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Dec. 4, 1996 -- Computer units are altering how families interact with each other and other technologies, which may result in positive change for the American family. This is among the principle findings of a major new survey of 1,000 American households with a personal computer, conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide for Lexmark International, a leading printing solutions company.

The survey, entitled "Lexmark Report on Computing and the American Family" provides evidence that computer units are having far-reaching and often positive impacts on families and are helping to provide solutions for some of the most important challenges facing families today, including education, communication and financial issues.

"Just as the hearth acted as the focal point for the American family in the 19th century, and television was in the 20th century, computer units are rapidly becoming the centerpiece for the American family in 21st century," says Nick Tortorello, senior vice president of Roper Starch Worldwide and one of the principle authors of the survey. "Unlike the television itself, computer units are not passive entertainment, and are therefore transforming the paradigm of how people interact with technology and each other. Computer units are unleashing the collective imagination of families and the effects are just now becoming discernible."

In key areas critical to American families, the survey found computer units are making a positive impact, specifically:

• Education: Computer Units Help Make the Grade

  Nearly three-quarters of parents (72%) agree that using a PC unit has helped their children become more creative, and nearly half (48%) say their children would not do as well in school if they did not own a personal computer (43% say their children's grades have improved through use of a computer printer). And in the overwhelming majority (82%) of such households, the computer printers have been used for school reports or projects.

  "The wide variety of print applications now available to students and their parents provides an ideal forum for the sharing of ideas and the creation of new and interesting projects for school and home," says Susan Gauff, vice president of communications at Lexmark. "The falling prices and increased features of today's computers and color printers means that students can easily afford products that will allow them to create whatever they can imagine."

  Education benefits seem to stem from the common ways respondents report using computer units to spend time with children. 68% report helping with homework and 65% report running educational programs/CD-ROMS. Parents also report that computer ownership has also caused their children to spend less time watching television (42%).

  Children also do not seem as afflicted by technology-phobia as some of the rest of the family. One third (33%) of parents report that their child feels more comfortable using the computer than they, themselves, do especially if they are 50 years old or older (44%).

• Communication: Computer Units Give Families Quality Time Together

  Men may be from Mars, and women from Venus, but with computers they are at least communicating more. Keeping in touch with family and friends is one of the most frequently mentioned aspects of computer ownership. Among those who are connected to an on-line service, 74% report using e-mail to keep in touch with their friends and family. In fact, 63% of those on the Internet agree they are better able to stay in contact with these people specifically because of on-line access.

  In households overall -- whether on-line or not -- computer units have been used to produce personal correspondence to friends (77%) or family (71%) and, in nearly one-quarter (23%) of homes, they are used to produce a family newsletter. Family newsletters are particularly popular in the West (28%) and Midwest (27%), compared to the Northeast (17%) and South (20%) average.

  The survey found that, on average, parents spend 2.4 hours a week using the computer with their children and, in about one in six families (16%), parents log at least five hours a week at the screen with their child. (Parents in the South spend the most time each week at the computer with their children 3.0 hours, on average.) In comparison, married (or living-as-married) adults spend an average of 1.7 hours using a computer with their spouse or "significant other."

• Financial Security: Computer Units Help Families Get Ahead

  The survey found that computer units help family financial issues by helping users become more successful in business, and by better managing family finances. 59% of respondents agree that being on-line has helped them get ahead in business, and 38% agree being on-line has helped them better communicate with overseas colleagues.

  Respondents also report a measure of control over their present and future finances.

  About half (52%) of American PC-owners who are married/living-as-married and/or parents agree that they are better able to plan their family's financial future because they own a computer. Among all American PC-owners, specific uses of financial applications include keeping finances in order (59%), doing taxes (37%), and tracking investments (19%).

  Use of computer units also seems not to be divided by affluence. Households with reported annual incomes under $40,000 are nearly as likely to use their home computer for keeping track of finances than are households with larger annual incomes (56% vs. 61%, respectively). But not surprisingly, given the likelihood of their more complicated tax scenarios, Americans with annual household incomes of at least $40,000 are more likely than those with lower incomes to use their computers to do their taxes (40% vs. 27%, respectively).

Methodology

The Lexmark International/Roper Starch Worldwide random telephone survey of 1,000 Americans with a PC in their household was conducted by telephone in August, 1996, and is representative of the American PC-owning household population at large. The sampling tolerance for this survey is +/- 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

Lexmark: A Leading Printer Solutions Company

For more information about the "Lexmark Report on Computing and the American Family" please note the contact information above. For more information about Lexmark printers, or for a free newsletter on how to choose a printer, consumers can visit Lexmark's home page at www.lexmark.com on the Internet or call 800-358-5835. Additional product information can be found on the Lexmark bulletin board service at 606-232-5238 and the CompuServe forum "Go Lexmark."

Lexmark International, Inc., is a global developer, manufacturer and supplier of printing solutions and products, including laser, inkjet and dot- matrix printers and associated consumable supplies for the office and home markets. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lexmark International Group, Inc. (NYSE: LXK). Headquartered in Lexington, Ky., Lexmark, which had sales of $2.2 billion in 1995, also has manufacturing centers in Lexington, Ky.; Boulder, Colo.; Juarez, Mexico; Rosyth, Scotland; Orleans, France and Sydney, Australia.

CONTACT: John Shotwell of Lexmark International, 606-232-7652 or shotwell@lexmark.com, or Rob Key of Ruder Finn, 212-593-5857 or keyr@ruderfinn.com