Introduction

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The infrastructure of the Internet, like the electrical grid, induces major changes economically, socially, and politically.  The longer communities and individuals in Canada stall in their accessibility, adoption and effective use of the Internet, the less competitive they may become relative to those with more aggressive adoption and use rates.  Although Bollman (2007) identifies technology as a fundamental driver for rural Canada, he also views Internet service as a component of infrastructure. With the relative price of communication declining, rural residents can both receive and send information faster than even a few years ago. It remains to be seen however, if and how rural residents are responding to this improvement and what opportunities may arise. This study investigates factors that influence Internet use with an emphasis on rural areas and small towns.

The Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS) estimates that 68% of adult Canadians used the Internet in 2005 for personal non-business reasons.  However, only 58% of rural and small town residents accessed the Internet, well below the national average.  An analysis of the 2005 CIUS by Noce and McKeown (2007) identifies factors that influence Internet use in Canada. They confirm that an urban-rural digital divide persists with the odds of using the Internet being almost one and a half times greater for an urban resident than for a rural and small town resident.

In addition, other socio-economic factors are shown to have a significant influence on Internet use, chiefly one’s level of education. The odds of people with at least some post-secondary education using the Internet are almost three times greater than the odds of people who have, at most, graduated from high school. While past studies have reported similar findings on education and ‘rurality’,¹ this study found differing results for two other factors - women rather than men have greater odds of using the Internet, and the presence of children in a household no longer appears to be a significant factor in increasing the odds of an adult using the Internet. 

These findings should be taken into consideration by efforts aimed at supporting Internet access and use. 

Note

1. The term ‘rurality’ reflects the extent of being rural which is greater for individuals living in places with lower population densities and / or places further from an urban centre. (See Box 1 for the definition of rural and small town areas used in this Bulletin).