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ICT Access & Use
Report On The Benchmark Survey
Themes: Access
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Neil Russell and Nick Drew
Research Surveys of Great Britain (RSGB)
ISBN 1 84185 437 9, January 2001
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Summary
The growth of Information Communication Technology (ICT), in particular the Internet, has attracted
much press and business attention. Further, there is concern within government to ensure that access
to ICT is as widespread as possible, and that the digital divide separating those who do not have
access to ICT from those who do is eliminated.
In August 2000 RSGB was commissioned by the Department for Education and Employment to undertake
research among a large, nationally representative sample of adults (n = 4039) to discover the
uptake of, attitudes towards and barriers to use of ICT among different groups. The survey was
conducted using face-to-face interviews.
The survey looks at standard demographic data, such as age, gender and social grade, but also uses
analysis by ACORN (A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhood) group, which was used to identify
the most economically disadvantaged of the population, potentially those at the greatest risk of
being affected by the digital divide.
It is intended that regular updates of the research will track the penetration of ICT over time,
using this survey as a benchmark. The summary also refers to an earlier survey, conducted in
November 1999. This was conducted in a similar manner to the current survey, albeit among a smaller
sample. The findings of the current research are compared to the earlier survey where appropriate. |
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Key Findings
- Awareness of personal computers and the Internet stands at around 95%
- 44% of people claim to have used the Internet at some time.
- Usage of ICT (excluding mobile phones) is relatively low for lone parents, people who have
difficulties with basic skills and disabled groups. Compared to the average of 44%, use of the
Internet among these groups is low at 36%, 32% and 28% respectively.
- Use of the Internet is greater among younger age groups: 70% of 16-34s claim to have used the
Internet compared to 14% of those aged 55 and older.
- Those people living in ACORN categories "Council Estates, Greatest Hardship" and "Council
Estates, High Unemployment" are unlikely to have ever used the Internet (34% and 25% respectively).
This compares to 61% among "Prosperous professionals", 60% among "White collar workers" and 59%
among "Affluent Executives".
- Ownership has increased since November 1999. Growth rates have been fastest among those of DE
social grade. The number of DEs who have a mobile phone is 64% higher now than in November 1999
and the number with access to the Internet is half as large again as it was in November 1999.
- Age has an impact on use of ICT, but also on aspiration to use. Approximately three quarters of
non-users aged 55 and older say that there are no incentives to use computers or the Internet.
- Among current non-users who are interested in using computers or the Internet, the main reason they
give for not using a computer or the Internet at the moment is the cost of the computer itself or
(for Internet access) the cost of the telephone connection. This is particularly true for those
with children under 16, and those at greatest disadvantage.
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ICT Access and Use
Awareness of ICT media, which was high in November 1999, was at a similar or higher level in August
2000 - awareness of mobile phones has risen from 97% in the earlier research to 98%, and for
personal computers from 92% to 94%. Awareness of WAP phones is low relative to the other media: 37%
of people claim to know about them.
Claimed awareness of ICT is lowest amongst those aged 65 and older (81% claim to have heard of
personal computers) and the DE social group (89% claim to have heard of personal computers).
All ICT media show similar patterns of use by gender, age and social grade:
- Men are more likely to use ICT than are women - 50% of men claim to have used the Internet
compared to 40% of women;
- Use is greater among higher social grades: 68% of ABs claim to have used the Internet
compared to 22% of DEs;
- Use varies by ACORN group - 25% of those who fall into the Council Estate High Unemployment group
claim to have used the Internet compared to 61% of Prosperous Professionals.
The patterns in the data for those who claim to use each of the media nowadays is similar to
that presented above but at a slightly lower level:
- Mobile phone 63%
- PC / personal computer 48%
- CD ROM 39%
- Internet 37%
- WAP phone 2%
- Internet via WAP phone 2%
Use nowadays of these media varies by ACORN group: in general those in the more
deprived groups are less likely than those in less deprived groups to say that they
use any of these media nowadays. 44% of those in the Council Estate High Unemployment
group say that they use none of the media listed above, compared to 16% of Affluent
Executives and 28% overall. |
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Perceived Value of Computer Skills
Respondents were asked a series of questions relating to their attitudes about the value of computer
skills. These included asking how important they thought it was to be able to use computers for
life in general, and asking them to agree or disagree with statements that computer skills 'are
essential to my work now' and (where relevant) 'will be essential to my children's work in the
future'.
More than four out of five of people feel that computer skills are 'fairly important' or 'very
important' for life in general: 44% say 'very important'. There were differences by age, social
grade and ACORN group but these differences were less marked than they were for use of ICT. For
example, 46% of "Affluent Executives" say that it is very important to be able to use computers for
life in general compared to 38% of those in "Council Estates, Greatest Hardship".
Three out of five people agree that computer skills 'will be essential to getting on in my job/
getting a new job' and 44% say that computer skills 'are essential to my work now'. By social
grade this was mentioned by 61% of the ABC1's but 28% of the C2DE's. It was only mentioned by
18% of those aged 55 and older.
73% agreed that "computer skills are essential to my children's work now". 98% of people agree
that 'computer skills will be essential to my children's work in the future'. Both of these
show very little variation among different groups. |
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Use and Barriers to Use of Computers
Of those who claim to use a computer nowadays, about 85% say they use one at least once a week:
55% say that they use it daily. Of these, ABs are the most likely to use a computer daily (67% say
this). This is also reflected in the ACORN groups: of those who use a computer nowadays, 54% of
Affluent Executives claim to use it daily compared with 46% of those in the Council Estate Greatest
Hardship category.
Duration of use also varies widely. Those aged 25-34 on average use computers for twice as long as
those aged 55 and over (16 hours v 8 hours in the previous seven days). Among other groups the
duration of use maintains a similar pattern to frequency of use. ABs are, on average, longer users
than other social grades and the more prosperous ACORN groups use computers for longer than the
more deprived groups. Four out of five users use computers at home; half use them at work.
Among non-users, 28% say that they are very or fairly interested in using computers in the future.
The main (unprompted) reason given by this group for not using a computer is the (perceived) cost,
particularly among those with children under 16 in the household.
Among non-users who are not interested in future use, the main unprompted reasons for the lack of
interest are that the idea does not appeal (53%), or that they feel they are too old (32%). These
reasons are especially common among older people. Among younger non-users, cost becomes more of an
issue. Just under half of 16-34 year olds say (from a prompted list) that they cannot afford to
buy a computer, compared to 21% of those aged 55 and older.
Non-users were asked what, if anything, would encourage them to use a computer in the future. Just
under three quarters of non-users aged 55 and older say that nothing would persuade them, compared
to around half of all respondents. The main incentives are cost related, with free or cheap
machines and software being the most often quoted incentive (15%). |
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Use and Barriers to Use of the Internet
Patterns of use of the Internet are consistent with the patterns of using computers. 37% of people claim
to use the Internet, of whom three-quarters say they use it at least once a week. The least
frequent users are C2s and DEs and those aged 55 and older. The average duration of use in the
previous seven days is 5.4 hours, with variation among different age, social grade and ACORN
groups.
By age, among users, use is greatest among 25-34 year olds (6.3 hours) and least among those
aged 55 and older (3.8 hours). Those in the AB social grade (6.1 hours) are the heaviest users.
Those users in the most deprived areas record low access but among those with access use is high. Those
in Council Estate Greatest Hardship and Council Estate High Unemployment claim an average of
seven hours use in the seven days prior to the research.
The main use of the Internet is to send and receive emails - 70% of users use it for this
purpose. The next most popular reason for use is to obtain information for work, with 45% of all
users citing this. The actual reason for using the Internet varies among different groups -
younger people (16-24) tend to use it for study and learning (51%) and school or college work
(55%), while older groups claim to use it for work and to send and receive emails.
30% of non-users say that they are at least fairly interested in using the Internet in the
future. Of these, half say that the main -unprompted - reason they do not use the Internet is
that they do not own a computer. The perceived cost is the next most cited reason: a quarter
of interested non-users say this. As with computers, the main reason disinterested non-users
give is that the idea does not appeal or that they feel they are too old.
As with computers, the main incentives to use of the Internet are cost related: free or cheaper
access (quoted by a fifth of non-users) and free or cheap tuition, quoted by 10% of non-users.
These vary by ACORN group, from 27% of those falling into the 'White Collar' group to 16% of
those in the 'New Home Owner' group. |
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