Internet users remain disproportionately likely to be young, well educated, and wealthy. Consistent with these patterns, attitudes toward technology are positive among students, the employed, and Internet users generally. Non-users and the retired have more negative attitudes toward technology. One of the barriers to bringing non-users online is the fact that over half of them… Read More »
Non-use of the Internet has declined substantially over the past two years. In 2013 about 18% of the population had never used the Internet, compared to 23% in 2011. This five percentage point decline in two years is about the same as the five percentage point decline in the four years from 2007–2011. This is… Read More »
The percentage of Internet users with good or excellent self-rated Internet use skills has steadily increased from 60% in 2003 to 74% in 2013. Self-rated ability still varies by lifestage and gender, however, compared to 2011 the gap between men and women has shrunk from 12 percentage points to 7 percentage points (in 2013: 77%… Read More »
Children’s regulation shows trends that appear contradictory. Although the percentage of parents establishing rules about Internet use is declining, parents also are increasingly installing filtering software. However, opinions about the assignment of responsibility for protecting children are stable: respondents overwhelmingly think parents should be responsible. Few people believe that children’s content should be unrestricted, and… Read More »
Journalistic coverage of privacy issues has mushroomed and there is a generally high level of concern about privacy. In 2013 almost half (47%) of Internet users said they were concerned that the use of computers and the Internet threatens privacy. Despite this, about 70% of Internet users are comfortable giving out their email address and name… Read More »
British people spend an average of 11.3 hours per week online at home; this has been roughly stable since 2007 (average 10.9 hours a week at home). By contrast, use of the Internet at work has decreased from 7.3 hours per week to 5.5 hours per week over the same period. Use of the Internet at school… Read More »
Benefits from use of the Internet appear more likely to accrue to people with higher household incomes. That pattern exists across all four benefits measured here: saving money, finding out about an event, finding health information, and finding a job. This raises the interesting question, why are lower income people less likely to realise benefits… Read More »
Almost 90% of ex-users and almost 70% of non-users said they have a link to the Internet if they need it, but their access is indirect via another, proxy user. Proxy access may not be quick access or high quality access—depending on someone else means going online at their convenience—but it can make the Internet… Read More »
While disabilities, such as health-related problems, are a continuing source of digital exclusion, OxIS 2013 shows that over half (51%) of British people with a disability use the Internet. This is a rise of 15 percentage points from 2007. Unfortunately, 51% is still considerably less than the 84% of non-disabled respondents who use the Internet,… Read More »
There is a steadily declining likelihood that ex-users will get Internet access in the next year. In 2013 29% of ex-users were planning access compared to 52% in 2005. However, in 2013 ex-users are still much more likely to plan to get Internet access than non-users (29% vs 9%). This indicates that the challenge of… Read More »
