Response IV to Dr. Yang's question

Q: What are possible solutions to digital divide among different age groups in Singapore? What are some suggestions on enhancing the internet skills of the media-have-less to reduce their risks of social exclusion in Singapore?

I think age is a very important factor affecting a lot of types of digital dive, for example, the democratic divides. In Norris article, a lot of cyber-optimists claim that the interactive capacities of digital technologies will enable a wider audience of citizens to participate in direct democracy (Norris, 2008). If we take this into consideration, in fact there is a possibility of widening digital divide between the younger generation and the older generation. Let’s take a look at Singapore again. There already exists a great digital divide between just the penetration rates between the two age groups. If younger people, those “haves” who consist of the higher rate, keep engaging in civil democracy through the Internet, the older generation will be more and more left out. Therefore, I think age directly affects the digital divide, and can sometimes reinforce deeper divisions between information rich and poor (Norris, 2008).

The reason that I believe age is a significant factor in studying and bridging digital divide is two folded. On one hand, I have claimed in my essay that age plays an important role of causing digital divide in different countries. Economic status might have affected the penetration rate, which contributes to the physical digital divide, however, nowadays it’s not very concerned in developed countries anymore. On the other hand, age is directly related to secondary digital divide that it could possibly widen the divide culturally, economically and socially. As talked earlier, we can see that age could have a huge impact in widening the democratic divide. In general, I think it is because the pure fact that the world is aging. If we don’t do anything about this, there are going to be more and more people who turn into the generation of information have-nots naturally. Therefore, it’s vital that we come up with solutions to help bridge the digital divide between different age groups.

References: 

Norris, P. (2008). The digital divide.

Response III to Rachel Mabie

Q: Your research proves that a large impediment to the digital divide between elders and adolescents is the lack of internet education in schools pre-internet. Would there be a way to foster wide-spread internet use among elders to minimized the digital divide? Is there a way to educate many elders to increase the percentages of usage exponentially?

From my research, I think the biggest obstacle of digital divide comes from the differences of Internet skills, especially between younger and older generation. In general, I think it’s beneficial to have different workshops sponsored by government to improve the Internet skills of older generation. Considering the fact that a lot of the elderly might not be economically stable, I think it’s government’s job to secure that they are not excluded from the society. As mentioned in my essay before, there has already been a program called Age UK Camden. They serve the interests of all older citizens in London Borough of Camden to help them get connected with the other generation. I think it will also be an good idea to utilize the libraries over the nation (Kranich, 2001). In this sense, local libraries not only serves as a set of resources or information, but also as trainings to help local people improve on their Internet skills.

References:

GovIntOrg. (2013, March 08). Digital inclusion: How age uk camden helps older people   to connect. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhx-uqDjvBI

Kranich, N. (2001). Libraries bridge the Digital Divide. Spectra, 37(7), 4-12.

Response II to Omar Varga's Question.

Q: Based on your research and from your previous blog posts, what do you think should be done to relieve the digital divide not just in Singapore, but in other areas with problems similar to this? What can be done to relieve these issues?

The world is aging. I think for this pure fact, government should be prepared for the possible changes in the society. Governmental encouragement and support for initiatives is likely to help local economic development faster than bureaucratic top-down initiatives that might not be the best solution for all locations (Parker, 2000) . From my research, I think the biggest obstacle of digital divide comes from the differences of Internet skills, especially between younger and older generation. Similar to Age UK Camden, which is a local organization that supports and teach old people Internet skills, I think we can also utilize libraries though government fundings. Libraries not only provide access to content, but also teach the skills necessary to use information successfully. Government can invest in libraries to teach the skills necessary to find, evaluate and utilize information successfully to the older generation. (Kranich 2001)

References: 

GovIntOrg. (2013, March 08). Digital inclusion: How age uk camden helps older people   to connect. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhx-uqDjvBI

Kranich, N. (2001). Libraries bridge the Digital Divide. Spectra, 37(7), 4-12.

Parker, E. B. (2000). Closing the digital divide in rural America. Telecommunications Policy, 24(4), 281.

Response I to Dr. Yang's question.

Q: What are possible solutions to digital divide among different age groups in Singapore? What are some suggestions on enhancing the internet skills of the media-have-less to reduce their risks of social exclusion in Singapore?

As in Singapore’s case, I think it’s a little different from other countries because of its special culture, economical and historical backgrounds. As mentioned in my essay, despite of having the highest penetration rate, the Internet skills of the younger generation are not very positive. One of the biggest reasons is that, students use the Internet for task-orientated purpose only, so they don’t know how to get around the virtual world if not given a specific task (Lim, 2009). There is a great different between being required to look for specific information at school and exploring the internet following your own idea at home. Therefore, I think government should provide economic support for families, in order to have its own computer so that students can hone their online multi-tasking abilities and improve their problem solving skills.

References:

Sun Sun, L. (2009). Home, School, Borrowed, Public or Mobile: Variations in Young  Singaporeans' Internet Access and Their Implications. Journal Of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(4), 1228-1256. doi:10.1111/j.1083- 6101.2009.01488.x

The Role of Age In Digital Divide: A Case Study of Young People in Singapore (Literature Review Pt. 3)

     Concerning age, we can conclude that younger generation tends to use the Internet more often. This is a general pattern, however, the differences vary from country to country. (Norris, 2008) Not many studies have introduced Internet use patterns in other nations beyond the comparison of access rates between different nations. In figure 1, we can see that the digital difference between younger and older generation is the smallest in the US, and there are a bigger digital divide in other counties. It is worth mentioning that despite the very top Internet penetration in Singapore, the lag of online groups in older generation is the greatest in Singapore (Galacz, 2007)

Figure 1: The age gap in the four countries (% of users in population over 18 years of age, 2006)

      Singapore has the world’s highest broadband Internet penetration rate, at 99.9%
(W. Tan, 2009). Nonetheless, Singapore’s broadband subscription costs are the lowest worldwide–when combined with fixed and mobile phone line subscriptions, total communication costs constitute only 0.4% of the average monthly income in Singapore (LIM, 2009). Young people are perceived to be part of a generation who are more technically savvy than their elders.
      Yet ironically, some youths said that they looked to their older adults and parents to solve their computing and Internet problems. Findings from interviews conducted by Cheong, P. (2006) show considerable variance in youths’ Internet expertise and problem solving behaviors. A significant proportion of youths interviewed was unfamiliar with the ways computing technologies work and were unable to trouble shoot or solve their computing problems. It has been observed that young people in particular have less patience when operating in the online environment, possess poor research skills, and lack the ability to assess online information in a critical and discerning manner (Livingstone, 2003).
     One reason that a lot of scholars agree is that: Instead of “have not”, some parents choose to belong to the “want not” (wan Dijk, 2006) group. Some parents had chosen not to subscribe to the Internet as a pre-emptive safeguard against their children accessing inappropriate content, using the Internet excessively and possibly developing Internet addiction. (LIM, 2009) Their intermittent Internet use did not afford them the luxury of non-directed online exploration but led to task-oriented Internet use, which denied them the opportunity to hone their media multi-tasking and online multi-tasking abilities. Their understanding of the Internet and its capabilities was superficial and each online experience did not build significantly on the last, confined instead to a small realm of habitual activities.
     Hargittai (2002) pointed out study shortcomings that only viewed the binary disparity between those who use the Internet and those who do not, and examined disparities in people’s online skills, or what she called the ‘second-level digital divide.’ Taken together, findings highlight the presence of secondary digital divides pertaining to the Internet experiences of youths. Digital inequalities in Internet skills and problem solving behaviors and Internet usage patterns exist after initial access is obtained. In this way, contrary to popular belief, the digital divide may not be effectively bridged in digital societies and wired contexts as secondary digital divides in terms of Internet use may be extenuated in these nuclei. The finding suggest that in media-have societies where information technology is widely used in all facets of life, more needs to be done to enhance the media and internet skills of the media-have-less to minimize their risks of social exclusion.

Cheong, P. (2006). The Young and Techless? Investigating Internet Use and Problem      solving Behaviors of Youths in Singapore. Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, 1-36.

Galacz, A., & Smahel, D. (2007). Information Society from a Comparative Perspective:   Digital Divide and Social Effects of the Internet. Cyberpsychology: Journal of   Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 1(1), article 1

Hargittai, E. (2002). Second-level digital divide: Differences in people's online skills.   First Monday, Peer-reviewed journal of the Internet, 7(4), http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_4/hargittai/index.html. (retrieved 01/15/03).

Norris, P. (2008). The digital divide.

Sun Sun, L. (2009). Home, School, Borrowed, Public or Mobile: Variations in Young
Singaporeans' Internet Access and Their Implications. Journal Of Computer- Mediated Communication, 14(4), 1228-1256. doi:10.1111/j.1083- 6101.2009.01488.x

Tan, W. (2009, Feb 19). Singapore is most wired nation. The Straits Times. Retrieved   February 19, 2009 from http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking   %2BNews/Singapore/ Story/STIStory_340482.html.

The relationship between digital divide and age (Literature Review Pt. 2)

It is often believed that the digital divide exists between the so-called digital generation and the older generation. According to a May study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (2013), only 56 percent of American seniors over 65 are online, compared with 83 percent of people aged 50 to 64, 92 percent of people 30 to 49 and 98 percent of 18-to-29 year olds. In line with these statistics, Hargittai (2002) concludes that age is negatively associated with one’s level of Internet skills, therefore causes the digital divide between the two generations. The digital divide between old and young is documented by Lenhart et al. (2000) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (NTIA, 2000).

Those over age 65 have never had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the Internet at school and lag behind in their ownership and use of computers and the Internet as well as their digital skills (De Haan, 2001). This digital divide is even more severe when it comes to mobile. Only 18 percent of American seniors use smartphones, according to a Pew studyreleased in June, compared with 55 percent of Americans aged 45 to 54, 69 percent of Americans 35 to 44 and about 80 percent of Americans 18 to 34. Age is shown to be significantly associated not just with access, but with a tendency to pursue a more narrow range of personal goals online. ( Van Deursen, Van Dijk & Peters, 2010)

According to Millward (2003), it was a “fear” of new technology that hesitates the older generation. One of the big obstacles is that, there are a lot of them saying ‘People of my age do not take kindly to these technologies - sometimes it just scares them, like a rabbit in a headlight’. In terms of being on the wrong side of the digital divide is that no one had to convince young people they were missing out on something. Their peers were online and they got the sense there was all sorts of stuff they were missing. Older people too often believe ‘there’s nothing in it for me. Why should I deal with the hassle of a new bill or a new technology or another damn remote,’ let alone the trouble of learning all this stuff.

Therefore, the real barrier of access is a lack of Internet skills, which eventually results in digital divide. It is likely that an apparent lack of Internet skills and confidence could create a feeling that the Internet is "only for the young." Hence a barrier of personal protection could be erected by reporting a lack of interest in the Web.

The digital divide between different age groups, especially the disadvantaged position that older people is on, has raised concerns in a lot of developing countries. Studies by Cody et al. (1999) suggests that providing training to the older may increase their willingness to use the Internet, and that increases in seniors’ well-being can result from activity online. For example, a voluntary organization called Age UK Camden has served the interests of all older citizens in London Borough of Camden to help them get connected with the other generation.

Cody, M. J., Dunn, D., Hoppin, S., & Wendt, P. (1999). Silver surfers: Training and         evaluating Internet use among older adult learners. Communication Education, 48,           269-286.

De Haan, J. 2001. IT Use. In: M. de Klerk, Report on the Elderly in the Netherlands 2001,           Den Haag: SCP, 213-231

GovIntOrg. (2013, March 08). Digital inclusion: How age uk camden helps older people   to connect. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhx-uqDjvBI

Hargittai E (2002) Second-level digital divide: Differences in people’s online skills. First   Monday 7(4).

Lenhart, A., Rainie, L., Fox, S., Horrigan, J., & Spooner, T. (2000, September  21). Who’s not online: 57% of those without Internet access say they do not plan to log on [Online]. Available: http://www.pewinternet.org

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT. (2013). Who's online: Internet user   demographics. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-      Data-(Adults)/Whos-Online.aspx

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT. (2013). 56% of american adults are now smartphone owners. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Smartphone-Ownership-2013/Findings.aspx

 Millward, P. (2003) ‘The 'grey digital divide': Perception, exclusion and barriers of access to the Internet for older people’ First Monday 8(7) www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_7/millward/

Van Deursen, A. M., Van Dijk, J. M., & Peters, O. (2010). The Older the Better:              Rethinking Internet Skills. The Role of Gender, Age, Education, Internet           Experience, and Internet Use (TOP Faculty Paper). Conference Papers --   International Communication Association, 1.

Digital divide and its social influences (Literature Review Pt. 1)

We live in the best age of information-accessibility: More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years; more Facebook profiles are created every second than there are people born; members of LinkedIn come from more than 200 countries and represent every continent (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2013). Nowadays, more information is accessible today than any other time in history, but not to those without to access to the Internet. Living in an unjust world, there have always been ‘have’ and ‘have-nots’. Just as educational crusaders celebrate the success made in closing the literacy gap, one emerging divide is growing faster than most before it – the digital divide (Witte and Mannon, 2007).

In the literature, researchers have several conceptualizations of how to approach digital divide. As Brock (2005) summarizes that the survey reports the Internet use in the U.S. from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) focus on computer ownership initially and makes the shift to the Internet access. Access to information and resources through Internet and other new technologies has become one of the major perspectives in digital divide studies (Cooper & Kimmelman, 1999; Katz & Rice, 2002). One of the factors that are considered to be important in these conceptualizations is the differential possession of Internet skills (Van Dijk, 2005). In this paper we are focusing on Internet skills and not on other digital skills such as those needed for personal computers, contemporary mobile users, or digital television.

Moreover, scholars have found that, although Internet access and use have increased substantially over the past decade, the increases among some groups have been quicker. (Sparks, 2013) People who are already relatively advantaged -- the young, educated and those with higher status occupations -- have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet at a faster pace than the rest of society. A lot of factors such as education, income and gender have huge impacts on digital divide, however, in this literature review, I’m going to focus on age and examine the its relationship with digital divide.

Brock, A. (2005). “A belief in humanity is a belief in colored men:” Using culture to span the digital divide. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article 17. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/brock.html

Cooper, M., & Kimmelman, G. (1999). The digital divide confronts the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Economic reality versus public policy. Washington, D.C.: Consumer Union

International Association of Chiefs of Police. (2013). Fun facts. Retrieved from     http://www.iacpsocialmedia.org/Resources/FunFacts.aspx

Katz, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2002). Social consequences of internet use: Access, involvement and interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Sparks, C. (2013). What is the "digital divide" and why is it important?. Javnost-The Public, 20(2), 27-46.

University of Leicester (2013, June 3). Education, age and class continue to create a ‘digital divide’. ScienceDaily, Retrieved Devember 4, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2013/06/130603092448.htm

Van Dijk J (2005) The Deepening Divide Inequality in the Information Society. London:  Sage Publications.

Witte J and Mannon S (2007) The Internet and Social Inequalities. New York: Routledge.