Digital and Social Inequalities: A Qualitative Assessment of the Impact of the Connecting Equality Program on Argentinean Youth

Abstract

This paper focuses on the ties between social and digital inequalities among Argentinean youth. It uses a qualitative approach to explore different aspects of the everyday lives of adolescents, such as sociability, leisure time and family use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), in order to assess the impact of the Connecting Equality Program (Programa Conectar Igualdad, PCI) on reducing digital inequalities and fostering social inclusion. In particular, the paper explores what were the existing conditions of access for students and their families when the PCI was first implemented? What influence does the implementation of the PCI have on the individual, family and scholastic appropriation of ICTs? How does the use of computers and the Internet vary among youth? Has this large-scale incorporation of netbooks in schools, and especially homes and free time changed it in any way? Does the appropriation of ICTs through student participation in the PCI contribute to material and symbolic social inclusion? To answer these questions, we compare the processes of ICT appropriation among lower and middle class adolescents, focusing on the distinctive uses and meanings assigned to computers and the Internet by boys and girls in their daily lives. For this purpose we analyze data collected through semistructured interviews in two schools in Greater La Plata, Argentina during 2012. The main findings show that in terms of access, skills and types of use, the implementation of the PCI has had a positive impact among lower class youth, guaranteeing access to their first computers and promoting the sharing of knowledge and digital skills with family members. Moreover, evidence of more diverse and intense use of ICTs among lower class students reveals the development of digital skills related to educational activities. Finally, in terms of sociability, having a personal netbook enables access to information and cultural goods which are very significant in generating ties and strengthening identities and social integration.

Digital Means for Reducing Digital Inequality: Literature Review

“…The success of the deployment of information technology in large cities was measured in terms of turn-up of local inhabitants at public access points, usage time, and, to some extent, interviews with the users. The impact of some large interventions can also be measured separately from the actual intervention, as was done in assessing the PCI in Argentina by interviewing youths from two different schools with different social profiles (Larghi et al, 2015) or conducting focus groups with elderly in the UK after the digital inclusion courses (Hill et al, 2015).…”

“…Plan Ceibal in Uruguay, Programa Enlaces in Chile, Programa Conectar Igualdad in Argentina). We have looked closely at the semi-structured interview study of the programme in Argentina (Larghi, Lemus, Moguillansky, & Welschinger, 2015), in which Programa Conectar Igualdad (PCI), focused on young people, delivering more than 3.5 million netbooks to schools throughout Argentina and distributing them to students. The researchers interviewed students from two schools that benefited from the programme.…”

“…The first school was attended by pupils from affluent middle-class families, while the second consisted of children from low income, working class families. Larghi, et al (2015) studied the impact of the programme in the two schools, collecting data through interviews with 20 students in each school, finding that the PCI had provided the first computers to the lower-class youths and a diminished digital skills gap between the two groups:…”

Las construcciones del género en tiempos de Internet: modos de expresión y riesgos percibidos en las redes sociales durante la niñez.

“…Algunos autores señalan que, más allá del uso más intensivo que hacen los varones de la computadora, existen modos diferenciales de uso. Según esta perspectiva, los varones tienden a jugar y a programar, mientras que las mujeres tienen mayor protagonismo en las redes sociales virtuales y hacen usos más creativos de la tecnología (Colley y Comber, 2003;Howe y Mercer, 2007;Benítez Larghi et. al., 2015).…”

Articulaciones entre desigualdades y tecnologías digitales, un estudio de las trayectorias de vida de jóvenes de clases medias altas, La Plata 2012-2017

“…Por lo tanto, al interior de un grupo social que, como hemos señalado, se caracteriza por una abundante disponibilidad de TD en el hogar desde temprana edad, a diferencia de otros sectores sociales (Benítez Larghi, Lemus, Moguillansky y Welschinger Lascano, 2015) tuvieron lugar procesos de diferenciación en donde el poseer o no ciertos artefactos ubica subjetivamente a estos jóvenes en posiciones desiguales. En este sentido, el grupo de amigos, o compañeros de colegio, más cercano es la referencia directa, la "medida de la igualdaddesigualdad" que se construye en las experiencias de los niños y jóvenes.…”