Ellen Helsper

Digital natives: where is the evidence?

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.

Balancing opportunities and risks in teenagers’ use of the internet: the role of online skills and internet self-efficacy

Many 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, second (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 the direct influence of age and socioeconomic status on young people’s access, the direct influence of age and access on their use of online opportunities, and the 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.

Active participation or just more information? Young people’s take up of opportunities to act and interact on the internet

Given increasing calls for children and young people to participate via the Internet in civic and political activities), this article examines how far, and with what success, such participation is occurring among UK teenagers. Findings from a national survey conducted by the UK Children Go Online project show that young people are using the Internet for a wide range of activities that could be considered ‘participation’, including communicating, peer-to-peer connection, seeking information, interactivity, webpage/content creation and visiting civic/political websites. The findings are closely examined using path analysis techniques to identify the direct and indirect relations among different factors that may explain how and why some young people participate more than others. The results suggest that interactive and creative uses of the Internet are encouraged by the very experience of using the Internet (gaining in interest, skills, confidence, etc.) but that visiting civic websites depends primarily on demographic factors (with older, middle-class girls being most likely to visit these sites). Finally, cluster analysis is used to identify three groups of young people – interactors, the civic-minded and the disengaged – each of which is distinctive in its social context and approach to the Internet.

Gendered Internet Use Across Generations and Life Stages

Gender inequalities in Internet use are smaller among younger people. It is unclear whether these differences can be explained by the varying circumstances in which different generations grew up or by other factors that vary within an individual’s life time. This article tests a model which proposes that generation determines the level of Internet use and life stage determines gender differences in Internet use. Descriptive analyses of a representative sample of 1,578 British Internet users confirm that there continue to be small but significant gender differences for most uses of the Internet. The findings from a series of linear regressions suggest that gender differences vary for different life stages related to occupation and marital status. This is true especially for typically male uses. The article concludes that other factors related to life stage will continue to influence gender differences in Internet use in the future.

Taking risks when communicating on the Internet: the role of offline social-psychological factors in young people's vulnerability to online risks

Children and young people encounter a range of risks on the internet relating to communication. Making friends online has attracted particular attention as a risky behaviour, especially when this leads to offline meetings, as has giving out personal information online. This article, based on the ‘UK Children Go Online’ survey, seeks to explain the online communication of 9–19-year-olds in terms of their offline socio-psychological characteristics (shyness, life satisfaction, risk-taking), family communication patterns and online behaviour/skills. Findings show that older teens engage in more online communication activities than do younger children and so encounter more communication risks. Although girls communicate more on the internet, this seems not to put them more at risk. It was found that childrens offline social psychological characteristics, particularly their levels of life satisfaction and risk-taking, influence their online communication, with different online communication activities being predicted by different patterns of off- and online characteristics. There are weak indications that, in families which have a more conversational style of communication, teens may take fewer risks online, including a lower likelihood of meeting online friends offline. Multiple regression analyses show that those children and teens who are less satisfied with their lives and who have become more frequent and skilled internet users are more likely to value the internet as a communicative environment in which they feel more confident than they do offline, particularly in relation to the potential for anonymous communication. Since this in turn leads some into risky activities, the implications for research and policy are discussed.

Distinct skill pathways to digital engagement

Digital literacy and inclusion have been two important, largely separate, areas of study that examine the relationships between Internet skills and engagement. This article brings together these areas of research by testing a model that assumes specific pathways to inclusion: specific sociodemographic factors predict specific digital skills and specific digital skills predict related types of engagement with the Internet. Analyses of nationally representative survey data of Internet use in Britain highlight considerable measurement and conceptual challenges that complicate digital literacy research. The findings suggest that linking literacy and exclusion frameworks allows for a more nuanced understanding of digital engagement. Different groups lacked different skills, which related to how their engagement with the Internet varied.

Netiquette within married couples: Agreement about acceptable online behavior and surveillance between partners

The internet has become an integral part of many peoples everyday lives. It is unclear what its role is in maintaining intimate offline relationships and whether the use of the internet might cause conflicts between partners about what constitutes acceptable online behavior. An online survey of 920 married couples in the UK who used the internet investigated whether partners have similar netiquettes. There were high levels of agreement between married partners about the unacceptability of online infidelities; similarly they agreed more than two random individuals about the acceptability of entertainment activities which, in excess, might be addictive. Partners further showed high correspondence in surveillance behavior. Women were more concerned about their own and their partners behavior and were more likely to monitor their partners online activities. These findings suggest that a netiquette is developed and consciously or subconsciously negotiated within intimate relationships. Nevertheless, traditional gender differences as regards risk perception still hold; women are more likely to problematies their own and their partners behaviors.

Adults learning online: Digital choice and/or digital exclusion?:

Using a nationally representative British survey, this article explores the extent to which adults are using the internet for learning activities because they choose to (digital choice) or because of (involuntary) digital exclusion. Key findings suggest that reasons for (dis)engagement with the internet or the uptake of different kinds of online learning opportunities are somewhat varied for different groups, but that both digital choice and exclusion play a role. Thus, it is important for policy initiatives to better understand these groups and treat them differently. Furthermore, the more informal the learning activity, the more factors that play a significant role in explaining uptake. Policies designed to support individuals’ everyday interests, as opposed to more formal kinds of learning, are likely to be more effective in increasing people’s productive engagement with online learning opportunities.

The Third-Level Digital Divide: Who Benefits Most from Being Online?

Purpose Research into the explanations of digital inclusion has moved from investigations of skills and usage to tangible outcomes, what we label here as the third-level digital divide. There is a lack of theoretical development about which types of people are most likely to benefit. Understanding how achieving outcomes of internet use is linked to other types of (dis)advantage is one of the most complex aspects of digital inclusion research because very few reliable and valid measures have been developed. In the current study we took a first step toward creating an operational framework for measuring tangible outcomes of internet use and linking these to the inequalities identified by digital divide research. Methodology/approach After having proposed a classification for internet outcomes, we assessed these outcomes in a representative sample of the Dutch population. Findings Our overall conclusion in relation to the more general relationship between offline resources and third-level digital divides is that the internet remains more beneficial for those with higher social status, not in terms of how extensively they use the technology but in what they achieve as a result of this use for several important domains. Social implications When information and services are offered online, the number of potential outcomes the internet has to offer increases. If individuals with higher social status are taking greater offline advantage from digital engagement than their lower status counterparts, existing offline inequalities could potentially be acerbated

A nuanced understanding of Internet use and non-use among the elderly

This article examines explanations for both Internet use and non-use by older individuals. Older adults are often considered a homogeneous group with uniform reasons for Internet non-use, or when they are online, practising a uniform range of activities. The study gathered data concerning senior non-users through a national telephone survey. Data concerning senior Internet users were obtained through a nationally representative online survey. The findings suggest that although a substantial part of the senior Internet non-users live in surroundings that enable Internet uptake, they seem to be less eager or unable to do so. Important differences among senior non-users are based on gender, age, education, household composition and attitude towards the Internet. Differences among users were based on life stage, social environment and psychological characteristics. This article thus reveals that older citizens are a very diverse group in which some are more likely to be digitally excluded than others.