Gradations in digital inclusion: children, young people and the digital divide

Abstract

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.

Digital Media and the Generation Gap

“…Many of the young people in this study of lower income families made comparatively little use of the Internet, particularly when compared with young people from higher income families, which echoes findings in the UK by Livingstone and Helsper (2007b). Young people in lower income families were more likely than their middle class peers to share a computer and cell phone, to have outdated devices or slow Internet connections, or to have few 'warm experts' in their lives who could guide them through the process of learning new uses for digital technologies (Bakardjieva, 2005;Lenhart et al 2007;Facer & Furlong 2001;Livingstone et al 2005).…”

Knock, Knock. Who's There? The Imagined Audience

“…This brings us to one final noteworthy individual characteristic that may influence the formation of the imagined audience: One's knowledge and ability to use the In-ternet and social media platforms in particular (Eshet-Alkalai & Amichai-Hamburger, 2004;Hargittai, 2008;Livingstone & Helsper, 2007). While the concept of imagined audiences is not limited to interaction on the Internet (after all, scholars have referenced the concept for more than a century), being able to imagine an audience for the online sphere may be influenced by one's technical expertise.…”

(Re)penser le non-usage des tic

“…Au-delà des résultats qu'il énonce (voir supra), le principal apport des travaux de Neil Selwynn (2006) (Chia, Li, Detenber, Lee, 2006 ;Lin, 2006 ;Livingstone, Helsper, 2007) Honneth (2000). Le nonusage serait alors une « forme de réponse à l'idéologie de la reconnaissance que porte la mythologie de la " société de l'information " » (Granjon).…”