College Students Internet Uses and Skills A Reality Check

Transcription

1 College Students Internet Uses and Skills A Reality Check Eszter Hargittai Associate Professor, Communication Studies Department Faculty Associate, Institute for Policy Research Northwestern University & Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society Harvard University Much enthusiasm about Web developments due to their potential to: connect people disseminate information increase widespread participation in various activities level the playing field 1

2 Are there differences in students online skills and activities? Are differences random or systematically related to user attributes? What are the implications of differentiated uses? Productivity General Well Being Overall Framework $ Academic Achievement Socio Economic Status Context Technical Social? Skill Types of uses 2

3 Data? Data on Internet uses Very much little Very detailed basic Rarely comparable across data sets Lack of established/universal terms Moving target The Digital Data Paradox 3

4 Challenges of relying on log data Becoming user of a service is not a random event People understand and use sites/services differently Site usage is likely only one of many ways in which people engage in a particular behavior Data? Observations of and interviews about people s online information seeking Surveys Focus groups 4

5 Data: Observations of and interviews about people s online information seeking 100 randomly sampled adults Mercer County, NJ, re observed in college first years (randomly stratified on gender & skill) Chicago, IL, college first years Evanston, IL, Measures of actual skill; survey instruments Data: Surveys of Internet skills and participation US Map from Wikipedia 5

6 Why the University of Illinois, Chicago? Average temperature: Feb: 28.2 F Mar: 39.6 F Why the University of Illinois, Chicago? Average temperature: Feb: 28.2 F Mar: 39.6 F 6

7 Why the University of Illinois, Chicago? Average temperature: Feb: 28.2 F Mar: 39.6 F Data & Methods (UIC 09) Paper/pencil survey Enrolled in the only required course at UIC (i (First Year Writing ii Program) February March, ,060 first years 82% response rate February April, ,115 first years 80.5% response rate Wave 2 April July, % response rate 7

8 Sample descriptives (UIC 09) 99% years old 41% male; 59% female 47% neither parent has a college degree Race & ethnicity: White 41% Asian/Asian American 22% Hispanic 24% Black/African American 11% American Indian/Alaskan Native.5% The Wired Generation UIC % either own or have easy access to a laptop or desktop 98% have access to the Internet at home 95% had access to the Internet at home during senior year in high school 70% started using the Internet regularly in middle school or earlier On average, spend 17 hours on the Web weekly (excluding , chat and VoIP) 87% check daily (the majority check several times a day) 8

9 Is there a skills gap? UIC 09 How familiar are you with the following computer and Internet-related items? Please choose a number between 1 and 5 where 1 represents no understanding and 5 represents full understanding of the item. For details, see: * Hargittai, E. (2009). An Update on Survey Measures of Web-Oriented Digital Literacy. Social Science Computer Review. 27(1): * Hargittai, E. (2005). Survey Measures of Web-Oriented Digital Literacy. Social Science Computer Review, 23(3): Basic Internet related terms Range: Mean: 47 St.dev.: 10 For more info, see: Hargittai, E. (2009). An Update on Survey Measures of Web-Oriented Digital Literacy. Social Science Computer Review. 27(1): webuse.org/pubs 9

10 Advanced Internet related terms Range: Mean: St.dev.: 1310 For more info, see: Hargittai, E. (2009). An Update on Survey Measures of Web-Oriented Digital Literacy. Social Science Computer Review. 27(1): webuse.org/pubs Relationship of skill & gender For related material, see: Hargittai, E. (2010). Digital Na(t)ives? Variation in Internet Skills and Uses among Members of the Net Generation. Sociological Inquiry. 8(1): webuse.org/p/a29 10

11 Relationship of skill & race/ethnicity Relationship of skill & parental education

12 The Wired Generation 97% 90% 36% 87% Use of Facebook vs MySpace by Race/Ethnicity,

13 Use of Facebook vs MySpace by Race/Ethnicity, 2007 The Wired Generation.. but not in every way (UIC 09) 97% 90% 36% 87% 4% 3% 4% 1% 3% 21% 24% 10% 1% 3% 13

14 The Wired Generation.. but not in every way UIC 10 = 18% Who? I refuse to switch to Twitter. I don t know what that is or the purpose. I sound like an old person, I think, but I really don t understand Twitter. Female NU senior, Spring 2010 That s narcissism to the Nth degree, I just can t stand it, I think it s absolutely ridiculous. Female NU senior, Spring 2010 The Wired Generation.. but not in every way (Northwestern seniors, Spring 2010) I ve always thought that LinkedIn was something you do once you have a job. [..] I never really thought of it as a way for recent grads to connect with potential employers. [..] Is that one of the reasons that LinkedIn exists? I don t know. [..] I always saw it as Facebook s uncool older brother. Female NU senior, Spring 2010 I think I ve had a LinkedIn account for a long time. I just never check it. I don t really see the purpose of it. Male NU senior, Spring 2010 The LinkedIn thing, I m on it, but I honestly don t know how I m on it. I do not remember creating a profile; I thought it was one of those things where like this thing finds your information and creates it for you. Or maybe I did one time and I just don t remember. I don t use it, but I m on it. - Female NU senior, Spring

15 Students Understanding of Here s Wikipedia. Here s all the information. It s pretty much credible. Wikipedia, I don t know if a normal person like me is allowed to edit it, but people are hired, and they edit, like, scholars, people that were expert in the technology, or in the issue. For more info, see: Menchen-Trevino, E & Hargittai, E. (2011). Young Adults Credibility Assessment of Wikipedia. Information, Communication and Society. webuse.org/pubs Students Understanding of Wikipedia s not something you should rely on the whole time. Anybody could write stuff about anyone on Wikipedia. You should go further on, to see what else is out there. For more info, see: Menchen-Trevino, E & Hargittai, E. (2011). Young Adults Credibility Assessment of Wikipedia. Information, Communication and Society. webuse.org/pubs 15

16 Trust in search engines I basically do everything on Google I love Google Researcher: What is this Web site? Respondent: Oh, I don t know, the first thing that came up. For more info, see: Hargittai, E., Fullerton, L, Menchen-Trevino, E. & Thomas, K.(2010). Trust Online: Young Adults Evaluation of Online Content. International Journal of Communication. 4: webuse.org/p/a30 Is there a participation gap? 16

17 Online Engagement (ever) In percentages Men Women created a quiz or poll for people to take online uploaded a video to a video sharing site (such as YouTube) voted on the quality of content available on sites where users can rate content (such as YouTube or Digg) submitted a review about a product or service (on sites such as Amazon or Yelp) changed/added information to a Wikipedia entry changed the privacy settings of your Facebook account Online Engagement Sum of 5 activities (range: 0 5) Mean No activities 26.0% 1 activity 21.1% 2 activities 18.7% 3 activities 17.1% 1% 4 activities 10.3% 5 activities 6.7% ever 17

18 Number of online engagement activities by gender Number of online engagement activities by race Range: 0 5 Mean: 1.8 St.dev.: 1.6 * *** *** * p<.05 **p<.01 ***p<

19 Number of online engagement activities by parental education ** * 3.02 * ** * p<.05 **p<.01 ***p<.001 The Wired Generation (UIC 09) 99% own a cell phone 95% make or receive calls daily 89% send text messages daily 98% check kthe time on their phone daily 19

20 The Wired Generation.. but not in every way (UIC 09) 63% never access the Web on their phones 66% never access on their phones Take away Differences in skill and context of use, not just basic access, may contribute to differentiated Internet uses and digital inequality It is wrong to assume universal Web savvy, mentoring, education and support must be an integral part of any program that incorporates active use of digital media 20

21 Thanks to funders: Robert and Kaye Hiatt Fund for Research on Media, Technology, and Society Thanks to students/former students: Thank you! webuse.org 21