is a Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her research interests include the use of information and communication technologies in different contexts by people from vulnerable groups. This article reports on research funded by an Economic and Social Research Council grant (RES-335-25-0008) as part of the "e-Society" Programme, with co-funding from "AOL-UK"," BSC", "Childnet-International", "Citizens Online", "ITC" and "Ofcom" (see www.children-go-online.net). Thanks are due to Magdalena Bober for her work on this project. We are also grateful for the careful comments of several anonymous reviewers.

Little academic and policy attention has addressed the 'digital divide' among children and young people. This article analyses findings from a national survey of UK 9-19 year olds that reveal inequalities by age, gender and socioeconomic status in relation to their quality of access to and use of the internet. Since both the extent of use and the reasons for low and non-use of the internet vary by age, a different explanation for the digital divide is required for children compared with adults. Looking beyond the idea of a binary divide, we propose instead a continuum of digital inclusion. Gradations in frequency of internet use (from non and low users through to weekly and daily users) are found to map onto a progression in the take-up of online opportunities among young people (from basic through moderate to broad and then all-round users), thus beginning to explain why differences in internet use matter, contributing to inclusion and exclusion. Demographic, use and expertise variables are all shown to play a role in accounting for variations in the breadth and depth of internet use. Keywords Internet, children and young people, digital divide, digital inclusion, internet literacy.

Generational differences are seen as the cause of wide shifts in our ability to engage with technologies and the concept of the digital native has gained popularity in certain areas of policy and practice. This paper provides evidence, through the analysis of a nationally representative survey in the UK, that generation is only one of the predictors of advanced interaction with the Internet. Breadth of use, experience, gender and educational levels are also important, indeed in some cases more important than generational differences, in explaining the extent to which people can be defined as a digital native. The evidence provided suggests that it is possible for adults to become digital natives, especially in the area of learning, by acquiring skills and experience in interacting with information and communication technologies. This paper argues that we often erroneously presume a gap between educators and students and that if such a gap does exist, it is definitely possible to close it.

The notion of digital exclusion has become important in communications research but remains under-theorized. This article proposes a theoretical model that hypothesizes how specific areas of digital and social exclusion influence each other. In this corresponding fields model it is argued that they relate mostly for similar (economic, cultural, social and personal) fields of resources. The model further proposes that the influence of offline exclusion fields on digital exclusion fields is mediated by access, skills and attitudinal or motivational aspects. On the other hand, the relevance, quality, ownership and

As Internet use becomes widespread at home, parents are trying to maximize their children's online opportunities while also minimizing online risks. We surveyed parents of 6-to 400

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risks in teenagers' use of the internet: The role of online skills and internet self-efficacy. New Media & Society, 12(2): 309-329. Balancing opportunities and risks in teenagers' use of the internet:The role of online skills and internet self-efficacy AbstractMany hopes exist regarding the opportunities that the internet can offer to young people as well as fears about the risks it may bring. Informed by research on media literacy, this article examines the role of selected measures of internet literacy in relation to teenagers' online experiences. Data from a national survey of teenagers in the UK (N=789) are analyzed to examine, first, the demographic factors that influence skills in using the internet and then, the main focus of the study, to ask whether these skills make a difference to online opportunities and online risks. Consistent with research on the digital divide, path analysis showed a direct influence of age and socioeconomic status on young people's access, a direct influence of age and access on their use of online opportunities, and a direct influence of gender on online risks. The importance of online skills was evident insofar as online access, use and skills were found to mediate relations between demographic variables and young people's experience of online opportunities and risks. Further, an unexpected, positive relationship between online opportunities and risks was found, with implications for policy interventions aimed at reducing the risks of internet use.

Although a number of instruments have been used to measure Internet skills in nationally representative surveys, there are several challenges with the measures available: incompleteness and over-simplification, conceptual ambiguity, and the use of self-reports. Here, we aim to overcome these challenges by developing a set of reliable measures for use in research, practice, and policy evaluations based on a strong conceptual framework. To achieve this goal, we carried out a literature review of skills related studies to develop the initial Internet skills framework and associated instrument. After the development of this instrument, we used a three-fold approach to test the validity and reliability of the latent skill constructs and the corresponding items. The first step consisted of cognitive interviews held in both the UK and the Netherlands. Based on the cognitive interview results, we made several amendments to the proposed skill items to improve clarity. The second step consisted of a pilot survey of digital skills, both in the UK and in the Netherlands. During the final step, we examined the consistency of the five Internet skill scales and their characteristics when measured in a representative sample survey of Dutch Internet users. The result is a theoretical, empirically and cross nationally consistent instrument consisting of five types of Internet skills: operational, navigation information, social, creative, and mobile.