Internet Engagement in the Remote Work Era: Insights from High-Frequency Household-Level Data

Widespread transitions to remote activities in the early 2020s led to a dramatic increase in residential internet usage. We document short-term and persistent trends in internet engagement during this period with the use of high-frequency household-level broadband data from a North American internet provider. In spring 2020, overall traffic surged, driven in part by expanded use of remote productivity applications. While demand for these applications remained elevated in subsequent years, the traditional drivers of residential broadband engagement– online video, web browsing, and social media– continued to dominate usage. We document trends in usage volumes, time spent online, and bitrates, and we explore how these patterns vary across demographic segments. Finally, we discuss the implications of these recent trends in internet engagement for ongoing policy debates– including broadband labeling, minimum speed standards, and efforts to narrow the digital divide.