TY - JOUR
T1 - Contextualizing connectivity
T2 - how internet connection type and parental factors influence technology use among lower-income children
AU - Katz, Vikki S.
AU - Moran, Meghan B.
AU - Ognyanova, Katherine
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [grant number OPP1098351].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/2/23
Y1 - 2019/2/23
N2 - This project links research on digital inequality, which focuses on connection quality and its outcomes for under-connected individuals, and parental mediation, which focuses on the influence of parents on children’s technology experiences. We examine the internet connection type used by families, the technology experiences of lower-income parents, and their perceptions of opportunities that technology use offers their children. We then determine how these factors influence the frequency and scope of their school-age children’s technology use. Findings show that contextualizing children’s connectivity to account for infrastructural, socio-demographic, and relational influences provides new insights into the technology experiences of lower-income children. One set of findings suggests that direct benefit from increased connectivity is most evident for lower-income parents–those with the lowest household incomes, lowest levels of education, and whose dominant language is not English. These effects remain after controlling for other socio-demographic factors. The second set of results shows that greater connectivity increases how frequently both children and parents use the internet, but is associated only with a greater scope of internet activities for parents. Parents’ online activity scope is important for their children’s online experiences, directly predicting the scope of their online activities. High-scope parents were also significantly more likely to see digital opportunities in their children’s internet use, which in turn also predicted more frequent and broader internet use by their children. We conclude by considering the practical implications of these findings for digital equity initiatives targeting lower-income families.
AB - This project links research on digital inequality, which focuses on connection quality and its outcomes for under-connected individuals, and parental mediation, which focuses on the influence of parents on children’s technology experiences. We examine the internet connection type used by families, the technology experiences of lower-income parents, and their perceptions of opportunities that technology use offers their children. We then determine how these factors influence the frequency and scope of their school-age children’s technology use. Findings show that contextualizing children’s connectivity to account for infrastructural, socio-demographic, and relational influences provides new insights into the technology experiences of lower-income children. One set of findings suggests that direct benefit from increased connectivity is most evident for lower-income parents–those with the lowest household incomes, lowest levels of education, and whose dominant language is not English. These effects remain after controlling for other socio-demographic factors. The second set of results shows that greater connectivity increases how frequently both children and parents use the internet, but is associated only with a greater scope of internet activities for parents. Parents’ online activity scope is important for their children’s online experiences, directly predicting the scope of their online activities. High-scope parents were also significantly more likely to see digital opportunities in their children’s internet use, which in turn also predicted more frequent and broader internet use by their children. We conclude by considering the practical implications of these findings for digital equity initiatives targeting lower-income families.
KW - Domestication of ICTs
KW - children
KW - digital divide
KW - digital inclusion
KW - families
KW - parental mediation
KW - young people
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U2 - 10.1080/1369118X.2017.1379551
DO - 10.1080/1369118X.2017.1379551
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85029908854
SN - 1369-118X
VL - 22
SP - 313
EP - 335
JO - Information Communication and Society
JF - Information Communication and Society
IS - 3
ER -