The Digital Divide

2015 Statistic: how many adults accessed the internet?

84%

2020 Statistic: percentage of adults aged 16 to 44 years in the UK who were recent internet users

99%

• compared with 54% of adults aged 75 years and over

Inequality in New Media usage: Age - Boyle

younger people who have grown up with the internet at home, at school and from their peers, and are consequently more media-savvy than previous generations

• Digital Natives: brought up in the digital era, more likely to consume media through a variety of formats; 10x more likely to go online via their mobile than those aged 55+

Inequality in New Media usage: Social Class - Jones

Social class also has an impact on new media

• poorest social classes have the least access to the internet

• 16 to 24-year-ods from disadvantaged backgrounds were relatively infrequent users of the internet

Inequality in New Media usage: Social Class - Livingstone & Wang

Suggests that this situation may be worsening as they found progress in gaining digital skills had stopped improving

• normal part of life that those who lack access, or the skills and confidence to use it experience a form of exclusion

Inequality in New Media usage: Gender - Li and Kirkup

Studied the use of the internet by Chinese and British students, found two global gender-based cultures. Men were more likely:

• More likely to have a positive attitudes toward the internet

• More likely to be self-confident about their skills using it

• More likely to use emails and chat rooms and play computer games

• Less likely to use it for studying

Inequality in New Media usage: Globally

Most significant digital divide in terms of location is that between the information-rich and the information-poor countries, and the existence of a global digital underclass

• largest proportion of people in the Western world

• poorest countries lack access due to poverty

• lack of resources to access

• language and cultural barriers can also be a problem: 85% of websites are in English

Creates global inequalities and a new digital underclass who are excluded from the new media