Internet trends study finds lingering digital divide
New research analyses internet usage trends in New Zealand between 2007 and 2015.
A new report, Internet Trends in New Zealand 2007-2015, compares findings from the five World Internet Project New Zealand surveys which were compiled from more than 7000 questionnaires.
Internet use was already high in 2007, but the way we use it today is different in a number of areas says one of the report's authors, Dr Philippa Smith, research manager for AUT's Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication
In media, for example, 52% of respondents rated traditional platforms such as print newspapers as an important source of entertainment, well above the internet (42%), but that has now reversed. In 2015 the internet supersedes all traditional forms of entertainment media, rising to 68 percent compared to 55% for television.
The survey also found the level of skepticism about the reliability of information on the internet actually levelled off over the three years to 2015.
However, she notes the explosion of fake news stories in the run-up to the US general election, and adds that there were challenges even before that.
“My sense is there’s a lot of user-generated content out there and it’s put a lot of pressure on journalists for fact-checking and verification," she tells NBR Radio.
“Blogs and social networking sites have given people other options to access information. I think the difficulty here is that people tend to go to those sites that they like where they find people with similar views so the danger her is you might get the bubbles or echo chambers where people are accessing information that is quite narrow. They’re not expanding their views.
Lingering digital divide
Dr Smith also highlights the "digital divide," telling NBR Radio that although more people are using the internet, some groups tend to be only using it superficially for basics like email.
InternetNZ, which co-sponsored the report with MBIE, picks up on the same concern.
"We are still concerned about the digital divides relating to household income, location and ethnicity groups," says chief executive Jordan Carter.
"The report paints obvious gaps where people of low income, of Pasifika ethnicity or those living in rural areas, are not using the Internet. With the statistics showing a rapid increase of people stating the Internet is important as a source of information - this divide is more important than ever to improve."
InternetNZ is working on a project that maps the divides over the country. The project "will allow us to draw related statistics on how the digital divide is affecting areas such as economic well-being and education," Mr Carter says.
"We hope this new information will be useful for the technology sector and the government in trying to close the gap."
One private sector initiative is already underway: a Spark initiative, led by some-time Labour National politician Nick Leggett, to provide $15 a month broadband for 5000 poor families.
Key trends from the report
Internet usage - The percentage of Internet users in the five WIPNZ surveys has risen steadily from 82% in 2007 to slightly over 90% in 2013 and 2015. The uptake of mobile handheld devices has proceeded at a remarkable pace from low to high usage: from 8% of Internet users in 2007 to 87% in 2015.
Comparing the importance of different media - The importance of the Internet as a source of information has risen considerably, most dramatically for those aged 65 and over. Starting at 21% of over-65s saying the Internet was important for information in 2007, this has risen and then levelled out in 2013 and 2015 at just under 60%.
Relationships and communication - Texting has consistently been the most popular form of daily communication across all waves of the survey, but instant messaging (e.g. through Whatsapp or Snapchat) may now be replacing texts as the number-one conduit for daily communication (75% in 2015).
The increasing diversity of social networking sites available, in addition to Facebook, may also be responsible for the jump in the users who rate these as important in their daily life (from 28% in 2007 to 53% in 2015).
Consumer and public sector interactions, Internet security - Online consumer transactions across the board, including financial interactions with the public sector such as paying for fines, taxes or licences online, have increased steadily since 2007. However, this has levelled out in the last two surveys, and we are seeing some behaviours perhaps reaching near saturation point in 2015.
Although rules on young people's Internet use such as having a website filter have diminished, restrictions on the amount of time that under-18s spend online and advice about not giving out personal information persist.
Shifting digital divides - All five waves of the survey indicate that certain groups are more engaged with the Internet, having a higher percentage of Internet users and generally using the Internet more widely and more frequently. These groups include those who are younger, more urban, have a higher household income, and are New Zealand European or Asian.
There has also been a notable increase in the confidence levels of Internet users aged 65 years and older, with those rating themselves as 'good' on the Internet up from 25% in 2007 to 60% in 2015.
Many - but not all - of the digital divides that exist on various demographic dimensions have decreased somewhat between 2007 and 2015. There are no significant gender differences in terms of overall access to the Internet, however there are differing preferences which have continued in 2015, such as men watching videos online more frequently, and more women than men being involved in playing games online daily.
However, divides within groups relating to household income, area and ethnicity still exist, indicating the difficulty in establishing a level playing field for all Internet users.
The risk of people 'missing out' because they lack access and accessibility to the Internet for a variety of reasons is still of concern, particularly for basic activities such as banking, finding information or communicating with others.
Read the full report here.
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Internet trends study finds lingering digital divide
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