four - Which children are fully online?

Summary

Research shows that adults who are disadvantaged in traditional, offline ways tend also to be disadvantaged when it comes to engagement with information and communications technology (ICT) (Warschauer, 2004; van Dijk, 2005; Helsper, 2008). Some argue that this is not an issue for younger generations because they are growing up in technology-rich environments. Tapscott's (1998) distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants reflects this type of reasoning. The belief that all children are fully online is strong, but runs counter to the evidence (Facer and Furlong, 2001; Bennett et al, 2008; Helsper and Eynon, 2010). Work on understanding the differences between young people is scarce since there is hardly any generalisable, cross-national data on the youngest age groups (Cleary et al, 2006). This chapter uses EU Kids Online data to examine the extent to which patterns of inequalities in access are observable among young people. It explores whether differences in access to the internet are related to individual-level factors and if the national context is related to differences in access among different groups of children.

Digital exclusion research

Digital exclusion research has moved from the distinction between access and no access to more nuanced discussions around gradations of inclusion (Warschauer, 2004; Livingstone and Helsper, 2007). For populations where some form of internet access is widespread this is a useful approach. European children tend to have access somewhere; it is therefore likely to be type of access that differs between groups of children. Research shows that the type of access is important for determining how people engage with ICTs such as the internet (Helsper, 2007; Kuhlemeier and Hemker, 2007). Private, playful access is more likely to lead to learning and skills development than supervised and restricted access (Mumtaz, 2001; Ba et al, 2002; Livingstone, 2003). The ubiquity of internet access determines how embedded interaction with this technology is in people's everyday lives (Haddon, 2011). The differences between mobile and fixed platform use is also part of this debate (Ishi, 2004; Anderson, 2005; Smith, 2010). The EU Kids Online survey shows that half (49 per cent) of children access the internet from their bedroom, a private location, and a third (34 per cent) of European children access it through mobile devices. However, there are differences in access privacy and mobility related to gender, age and socioeconomic status (Livingstone et al, 2011).