Water or Wi-Fi? Half of Americans claim they can’t live without Wi-Fi

Nearly half of Americans can’t live without their electronics (48%) and WiFi (46%), according to new research.

A survey of 2,000 U.S. adults revealed that other essentials – besides food and water – people can’t go without include medicine (55%), electricity (53%) and gasoline/petrol (51%).

The study examined respondents’ perspectives on supply chain issues and found that nearly half say the issues have “somewhat affected” their lives (45%) – from impacting their cost of living, their jobs and finding basic essentials.

One respondent said, “baby formula is really hard for me to find,” and another noted, “I had to cut back on spending so much on groceries.”

On average, Americans buy a third of their essentials online, with respondents 35-44 being the most likely to get at least half of their necessities this way.

The research suggests that brighter days may be on the horizon – two in five Americans are optimistic that the situation involving global supply chain disruptions will get better.

But change doesn’t happen overnight: A third of respondents predict supply chain disruptions will continue for another two years (34%).

While 30% think supply chain issues will remain the same, the same percentage believe things will only worsen (30%).

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of WithSecure, the survey also tested respondents’ knowledge about basic economic terms, discovering that although seven in 10 Americans are “confident” in their understanding of supply chain issues – only 59% actually know what the term means.

Regarding supply and demand, less than half of respondents knew that it determines product prices and services in a free market (41%), while only 45% think it determines gas prices.

The majority of people, however, have a better understanding of what inflation and recession mean, with 64% and 57% selecting the correct definition respectively.