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Survey: US falls behind in technology

Despite the success of American tech companies, America has fallen behind its European and Asian counterparts in technology use by all levels of society, according to a recent global report. In its annual global technology survey, America was ranked seventh by the World Economic Forum's Networked Readiness Index, which measures a nation's capacity to develop and benefit from advancements in information technologies.

The global survey mirrors a similar report by the AEA, a trade association formerly known as the American Electronics Association. Their study called, "We Are Still Losing the Competitive Advantage: Now Is the Time To Act," says other countries like South Korea are churning out more engineering graduates; the United States is not maintaining enough funding for basic research and development; and the level of math and science education remains low.

Both surveys cite the high cost of broadband internet access and the lack of competition within the telecommunications sector as contributing factors in America's drop in the most current global rankings.