In this guest post, Claire Preston unpacks the latest evidence on ‘digital inequalities’ – how disadvantaged groups can be further disadvantaged in their access to (and use of) the internet.
This year’s Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS) is just out and reports a “striking rise” in the use of the internet by low-income households and disabled people. The numbers of older people accessing the internet are also up; encouraging news for those who seek to lessen the digital divide. AgeUK’s recent Itea and biscuits week is a case in point.
But there is plenty of evidence to support a continued need for such efforts: internet access remains far from uniform across the UK’s population. People in the highest income category are still nearly twice as likely as those in the lowest to use the internet (OxIS 2013)and the cost of the internet is the reason most commonly given…
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