Consumptions and

Digital Divides

Introduction
The existence of unequal pattern of development around the
globe
New media consumption
Is there any gap existed?
Is the same pattern like the unequal patterns of global
development?

Global Internet Use

Patterns of distribution across the globe
All countries equal access?
North-Western vs Southern Regions

Global Internet
IP distribution

Global use
Pattern follows the global distribution of wealth

New media introduces change

Manuel Castells argument new media introduce changes to
the world economy parallel to those of industrialization and
the shift to mass production
Rate of internet diffusion need to revise the original ideas of
inequality

Language use on the internet

Cont..
Internet is not diffused in an equal manner nevertheless
found in all countries of the world
We may associate it with globalization
Siapera (2012)- the spread of internet is indeed global, the
role and significance of the West is diminished.

Internet: Assumption?
Is it sufficient for people to have access to the internet (and
other media), in order to benefit from them?
All users using the same way?
Do you aware of your online patterns?

Digital Divide

The notion complex and multilevel

Haves and have-nots
Follow an economic logic
Frank Webster (1995) - sufficient sociological sophistication

Digital Inequality
Paul DiMaggio and Eszter Hargittai (2001)
suggest that a conceptual shift digital divide to digital
inequality

Five dimensions of inequality

1) Technical means
2) Autonomy of use
3) Use patterns
4) Social support
5) Skills

Age and new media use

Robust and persistent findings regarding internet use concerns
the relationship between age and use.
US & Cyprus - the older you are the less likely you are to make
use of the internet

Cont
Age is inversely related to internet

Different dimension?
the concept is not differentiated enough
Ellen Helsper (2010) life stage
points in a persons life where daily rhythm and routine alter
drastically due to a change in a persons role in society
(2010:355)
Identied occupational shifts as among the major life-stage
shifts.
more accurate predictor of new media use

Gender and new media use

gender still remains a predictor of inequalities
gender remain a factor in determining new media use?
do women suffer new media exclusion, which deprives them
of even more opportunities?

Cont
World Internet Project reports a clear differences in the use of
technology between men and women.

Cont..
the gender gap may be closing - there is still significant
differences in the extent and kind of use of the internet.

Cont
Oxford Internet Institute Survey (OxIS) reports
that:
while 65% of men feel confident about their
technical skills, only about 36% of women feel
the same
men often look for information on news and
sports, while women look for health information
leisure and entertainment: men are more likely
than women to listen to and download music
and videos and play games

Cont
Pew American Life and the Internet Project
(2005) report found that men use internet for
recreational more than women, they look for
more kinds of information compared to women,
they are more likely to use it for banking, and are
more interested in technology. Women on the
other hand, are more likely to use email to
communicate with friends and family and in
general to pursue personal relationships in
online context.

Race/ethnicity and new media use

the same pattern is also expected in relations to ethnicity and
new media use.
ethnic minorities are disadvantaged when it comes to
opportunities compare to the ethnic majority

Cont
Jackson, Zhao, Kolenic, Fitzgerald, Harold and von Eye
(2008) - general white children were using computer
longer than African-American children
African-American boys used both computers and the
internet less than other groups
however, African American girls used the internet more
often than any other group
of all the groups studied, African American boys were
found to use all kinds of new media the least, with one
exception: they played video games more than African
American girls and even their whites counterpart.

Class activity
Go back to your blogs group
Discuss some of the things that you want to know about your
friends online consumption
Develop a simple questionnaire (around 10 questions)
Pass it to the group next to yours
Collect it and analyze it
Blog it!