Impact of digital communications on social inequalities

Question 1

What does ofcom 2014 report say about age and digital communication ?

Answer 1

• More adults online through a range of devices
• Attitudes to privacy and security vary depending on age
• 8/10 adults go online and nearly every teenager

Question 2

What was Boyle’s study on age and digital communication ?

Answer 2

• With each generation there is a greater reliance on digital communication
• Young people more receptive to learning new skills as technology advances

Question 3

What did berry say about age and digital communication ?

Answer 3

• Secondary data focused on older people’s internet usage
• Those who didn’t access internet have non-material reasons
• For example the lack of skill or interest
• Older people have a lower internet usage

Question 4

What are the reasons for large proportion of youth internet usage ?

Answer 4

• More time
• More disposable income
• More adaptive to new skills
• Keen to develop and express digital inequalities

Question 5

What are the patterns of location and digital communication ?

Answer 5

Developing countries are increasing internet usage however they are still behind in comparison to western countries digital usage

Question 6

What is a statistic that relates to globalisation and inequalities ?

Answer 6

Only 7% of African inhabitants are online due to the limited mobile connectivity

Question 7

How does globalisation create inequalities through location ?

Answer 7

• Globalisation doesn’t happen evenly across the world
• Many parts of the world lack money and freedom
• Developing countries can’t access western forms of digital media due to start up costs

Question 8

What was Li and Kirkup’s study on gender and digital communication ?

Answer 8

• difference between China and Great Britain about attitudes towards the internet
• Found Gender differences
• Males are more likely to use emails and chatrooms
• men use computers games more than women
• Men have more digital confidence
• Women believe that computers are a male activity

Question 9

What was the US study about gender and digital communication ?

Answer 9

• Younger women are more likely to use digital communication to maintain social relationships
• Young males use media for finding info out whereas females use media more for entertainment
• 40 million more women visited twitter than men

Question 10

What did an Ofcom survey reveal about gender and digital communication ?

Answer 10

In 2014 males averaged at 23.3 hours of digital communications a week whereas women averaged at 17.8 hours

Question 11

What does a person need to access digital communication ?

Answer 11

• device
• internet access

Question 12

Who are the digital underclass ?

Answer 12

Those who can’t afford items to improve their digital communication

Question 13

What are the 4 main characteristics of the digital underclass ?

Answer 13

• unemployment
• lower educational needs
• lack of social capital
• small range of digital skills

Question 14

What are the reasons for why the digital underclass are disadvantaged ?

Answer 14

• developing social networks is dependent on digital communication
• Education relies a lot on digital communication
• Lack of digital communication creates a gap of knowledge
• without digital communication people feel excluded and inferior

Question 15

What was Marten ad D’Haenens study ?

Answer 15

• Looked at the digital divide in Brussels where they linked lower class to lower internet usage
• Only 8% of the working class used the internet in comparison to the 94% of the middle class
• lower class focus on entertainment rather than knowledge
• Social class is the most powerful social variable when measuring digital inequality