A study into Internet use in Britain has found a sharp divide between how the rich and the poor surf the web.
The 2011 Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS) shows that a “next generation” Internet user has emerged. The term describes people who have mobile devices as well as a home PC. They are more likely to use social networking sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn, as well as use online government services.
Those who earn £80,000 are nearly twice as likely to be a next generation user than those who earn less than £20,000. According to the report: “It helps to have more money when buying a variety of devices, many of which remain expensive”.
OxIS researchers interviewed more than 2000 people for their biennial survey. The first report, in 2003, found that only one in ten people used the Internet on their mobile phone; now, half of us do.
But eight years on, a quarter of people still do not use the Internet at all – and almost all non-users are retired. Furthermore, four percent have tried and rejected the Internet, and tend to cite cost as the reason for turning away. Only half of disabled people use the Internet.
“Experience technology”
Grant Blank, one of the authors of the report, said: “People tend to say they don’t use the Internet because they’re not interested – because there’s nothing on it for people like them or people their age.”
Blank believes the Internet is an “experience technology – you only know about the benefits of it if you’ve experienced it, and then you know you can go online to save money and to be in touch with people. If you’ve not seen that before you might say ‘I’m not interested’.”
Alun Michael, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, was present at the launch of the report. “Forty percent of non-users said they wouldn’t go online even if they were given a free broadband service and a free computer,” he said. “There are people who perhaps cannot cope with complex systems.”
More than ever, government services are being transferred online, where they are cheaper to run and easier for Internet users to access.
Michael sounded a warning note to those rushing to save money by moving to the web. Not everyone is online, or wants to be, and he believes they should still be provided for.
“I’m not sure we’ve yet got to the stage where, in costing in the benefits of going online, you also cost in the necessary requirements for making sure those who can’t or won’t go online can nevertheless access the service,” he said.
While a gap has opened between rich and poor Internet users, other digital divides are closing; roughly equal numbers of men and women use the Internet, and working people use the web just as much as students and children.