Left Behind in the Digital Society – Growing Social Stratification of Internet Non-Use in Switzerland

Kappeler, Kiran; Festic, Noemi; Latzer, Michael

doi:10.5771/9783748920656-207

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Recent research shows that digital inequalities are still relevant today, even in highly connected societies. Research on the first level suggests that internet use remains stratified along socioeconomic background variables and that more privileged groups are more likely to use the internet (Kappeler et al, 2021). Similarly, research on the second level reveals that digital inequalities in how the internet is used still persist (Festic et al, 2021).…”

Section: Associations With Digital Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Longitudinal Perspective on Digital Skills for Everyday Life: Measurement and Empirical Evidence

Kappeler

2024

MaC

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Our everyday lives are increasingly digital: We meet with friends, search for information, watch films, and buy goods online. This generates data that is automatically collected and analyzed. The ability to deal with the resulting algorithmically selected and personalized content is essential to benefit from digital technologies, and for this, digital skills are crucial. Studies focusing on digital skills, their antecedents, and consequences have mostly relied on self-reported, one-time measurements. A deeper understanding of the measures of digital skills and the role such digital skills play in everyday life and over time is needed. To address these gaps, this article compares self-reported measures of digital skills and knowledge of datafication and algorithmization in everyday internet use and maps the evolution of their relevance for digital everyday life. To do so, this articles analyzes data from multiple cross-sectional surveys conducted from 2011 to 2023 with representative samples of Swiss internet users. First, the findings indicate that self-reported skills reflect internet users’ knowledge of algorithmization and datafication in everyday internet use. This renders the measure a decent tool for empirical studies. Second, the findings show that digital skills are associated with socioeconomic background, cyber-optimistic attitudes, usage time, use of social media, health trackers, voice assistants, ChatGPT, and feeling included in the information society. These relationships varied over time. This article provides longitudinal empirical evidence on the relevance of digital skills in a highly digitized country. The findings highlight that promoting digital skills can contribute to fostering more inclusive digital societies.

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Section: Associations With Digital Skillsmentioning

confidence: 99%