4. Analysis of ICT use by socio-demographic characteristics

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Having made the connection between ICTs and income clear, and having explored relationships between ICTs and skills, this section examines the three measures of ICT use and familiarity in relation to other pertinent respondent characteristics; age, gender, and educational attainment are examined.

4.1 Age

There is some concern that older workers have fewer ICT skills and that this may result in a deterioration of their position in the labour force (OECD 2004). A ‘generation gap’ with respect to exposure to computers and other ICTs may explain a reduced opportunity to learn ICT skills. Young workers aged 25 and under were significantly more likely to grow up with a computer in the home than those aged 25 and over (DfES 2003). As a result, there are fears of a growing mismatch between the skills of older workers and those skills that are in demand, and concern that a lack of skills may cause a slowdown in the introduction of ICTs in jobs filled by older workers, hurting a company’s productivity growth and competitiveness (OECD 2004). However, to date there has been no firm evidence of such a competitive disadvantage, at least in terms of returns to ICT skills of older workers in the labour market (OECD 2004).

Overall, and consistent with previous research, age exhibited a strong relationship with patterns of ICT use and familiarity. These patterns were generally similar across countries, showing a steady decline with age, particularly for diversity and intensity of Internet use, and use of computers for task-oriented purposes (the latter is shown in Chart 11). Many of these task-oriented purposes are associated with computer use at work, such as writing or editing text, managing accounts or spreadsheets, programming, creating presentations or keeping a schedule or calendar. The drop in these activities was most substantial between the age categories of 46 to 55 and 56 to 65, suggesting that older workers and retired persons may not be performing these tasks regularly.

Young computer users are an interesting focal point because in many ways they represent a group of people with a different outlook on technology. While at different points in time, much of the older population adopted ICTs such as the computer and the Internet and learned to adapt their lives to the use of these technologies, the younger generation has grown up at a time when these technologies were already pervasive. The types of computer and Internet activities performed by the younger generation are particularly distinct from the uses of middle-aged and older individuals. As they will represent computer users long into the future, it is important to understand the ways in which young people use ICTs. At the same time, it is important to recognize that these uses are not static and are likely to change over time.

Of the three ICT index scores included in this study, young Canadian computer users were most different from the rest of the population in terms of their elevated diversity and intensity of Internet use (Chart 12).

As noted earlier, these young users also had higher indices for use of computers for task-oriented purposes and perceived usefulness and attitude toward computers, but these differences were not as pronounced as the gap between young and older users in Internet use.

The second youngest group - those aged 26 to 35 years - were not far behind the youngest users in Internet use. These are individuals who would have been in their late teens or twenties in the mid-90s, beginning their careers at a time when Internet use began to emerge as a growing phenomenon.

It comes as no surprise, given the broad differences in attitudes and use, that young Canadians have devoted a significant part of their time to using computers (Table 7). A large proportion of Canadian computer users aged 16 to 25 years (43.3%) used computers at home an average of one hour or more per day, while 18.1% used them for 2 hours or more. Given time spent on computers at work, school, and other locations (not measured here), the total time spent in a typical day is even higher.

Compared to the two youngest age groups of Internet users, those in their late thirties and beyond were more likely to be casual users, with nearly half of them spending less than 10 hours per month (or less than 20 minutes per day on average) on their computers at home. By comparison, just over one-quarter (27.3%) of young Canadian computer users aged 16 to 25 years were casual users. Interestingly, although the intensity and variety of activities performed with ICTs tends to decrease with age, the proportion of heavy computer users (30 hours or more per month) did not fall off for the oldest age group (26.0%), when compared to the 36 to 45 (22.6%) and 46 to 55 (20.6%) age groups. In some cases, those who are retired may have more free time than those in middle-aged groups who may be working, and for some this could represent an opportunity to spend greater lengths of time on their computers at home.

Data from the ALL survey show that heavy computer use was an emerging phenomenon in North America in particular. The proportion of computer users aged 16 to 65 years who were very heavy users at home (averaging 2 hours per day or more) was about twice as high in Canada (11.9%) and the United States (11.1%) than in the other countries (where it ranged from 4.8% to 6.3%).

The Internet browsing experience for young, middle-aged and older Canadians is often quite different (Table 8). The group of young Canadian users aged 16 to 25 years stood out when compared with the older age groups, particularly for their preference for downloading music, participating in chat groups, and playing online games with others. In fact, the proportion of these young users who engaged in these activities was about double the proportion of the next youngest age group, aged 26 to 35 years, and over five times the rate of the oldest group, aged 56 to 65 years. Going online to obtain or save music was in fact the third most popular online activity measured for young Internet users in Canada. However, young Canadians’ elevated use of the Internet was not restricted to entertainment, as they were also more likely to participate in formal education or training and to connect with potential employers online. Internet job sites and company websites have become an important source for job information, and over 40% of Canadian Internet users in the two youngest age groups went online to search for employment opportunities in a typical month in 2003. Online employment and education resources are becoming valuable tools for employers and educators, meaning that Canadians who do not have Internet access may be missing out on significant personal opportunities.

Although young Canadians could be described as being Internet savvy, some important browsing activities were more common among older users. In particular, Canadians aged 16 to 25 were significantly less likely to go online to search for health-related or government information. Certainly, younger Canadians may have less need for this information, but that changes quickly beginning with the 26 to 35 age group and beyond. Approximately half of those older than 25 years of age performed these activities in a typical month in 2003.

Although few Canadians in their teens or early twenties had an interest or a need for online banking, more than half (51.2%) of those aged 26 to 35 did banking online in a typical month. Shopping or browsing for products on the Internet was also most popular among those in their late twenties and early-to-mid-thirties (49.4%), although it caught the attention of most other age groups to a lesser degree.¹

There was relatively little difference in the proportion of Canadian Internet users of different age groups engaging in some of the most popular Internet activities, such as general browsing, e-mail, and following news and current events. These activities appear to be essential to a majority of Internet surfers of all ages.

Young Canadian computer users aged 16 to 25 years were also the most active in terms of writing or editing text (84.8%), playing games (68.3%), reading information from a CD-ROM or DVD (65.2%), creating graphics, pictures, designs or presentations (52.2%) and programming (17.3%) (Table 9). Computer graphics and web design (not measured in the ALL survey) have also emerged as popular post-secondary programs of study for young individuals. Meanwhile, activities that tended to be work-related, such as maintaining accounts or spreadsheets and keeping a schedule or calendar, were more popular among middle-aged adults. Overall, differences for non-Internet related computer activities by age were not as large as differences observed in Internet usage.

Regarding the attitudes of Canadians toward computers, the 16 to 25 age group had the highest proportion of users with positive attitudes in most areas (Table 10). The only exception was the perception of whether computers have helped the user reach their career goals, where individuals aged 26 to 35 years were more likely to feel this way (54.9%). This would be an expected result since some in the 16 to 25 year age group would not have yet started their careers.

The higher perceived usefulness of computers among young users in general may not come as a surprise in light of the variety of activities young individuals perform on computers, the time they devote to these activities, and the fact that they have grown up during a time of widespread computer use. Of the measures obtained, the one that varied the most was the users’ level of comfort installing or upgrading software. A majority (59.0%) of those in the two youngest age groups felt they were comfortable performing these tasks, while only a minority of those over age 35 felt this way. It should be noted that although the youngest age group had the highest proportion of users with a positive outlook on computer use, these attitudes were also quite common among all other age groups. Indeed, positive attitudes were commonplace, but users were divided on whether they felt comfortable installing software on their computers and whether in fact computers had helped them reach their occupational goals.

4.2 Gender

Many studies have found gender differences in patterns of computer use. For example, in Canada one study found that with the exception of word processing, men were more likely than women to use computers for a range of common tasks (Marshall 2001). In the United Kingdom, men have also been found to perform slightly better than women on a practical performance assessment of ICT skills, and also to have higher awareness of ICTs (DfES 2003). The fact that men were more likely to be frequent users of computers is suggested as a reason for much of the difference in performance (DfES 2003). Access to ICTs is found to be lowest among unemployed women (Commission of the European Communities 2002).

In this study, differences in ICT use and familiarity by gender were evident in Switzerland, Norway and Italy (Chart 13). In each of these countries men scored higher on each of the three measures - perceived usefulness and attitudes toward computers, diversity and intensity of Internet use and use of computers for task-oriented purposes. The patterns were unlike those in North America, where differences for Bermuda, Canada and the United States were much smaller. In Switzerland, Norway and Italy, men also had higher rates of computer and Internet access than women, but in the North American countries included in this study, such differences were virtually non-existent. When speaking of ICT use patterns by gender it therefore becomes very important to refer to national contexts, which can vary substantially. Elsewhere, research has identified that gender gaps in ICT use are particularly high in developing countries (Huyer, Hafkin, Ertl and Dryburgh 2005).

Although there appears to be a relationship between gender and ICT use, gender alone does not tell the entire story. There is enough evidence to suggest that gender differences in ICT usage are more pronounced during the early stages of the introduction of new ICTs but decline over time. Therefore, gender differences must be analyzed in conjunction with the actual penetration of ICTs. As well, age has been found to exert an independent influence. Furthermore, in this study, men ranked higher in ICT use and familiarity than women in Italy, but the scores of men in Italy were generally still lower than women for all other countries examined. In Switzerland, differences by gender were quite strong, with men in this country scoring the highest in use of computers for task-oriented purposes among all countries. Intensity and diversity of Internet use was highest for men in Norway while the group scoring highest in perceived usefulness and attitudes toward computers was women in Bermuda. Available evidence suggests that there are significant differences in the extent of the gender gap, where it exists, by country.

4.3 Education

While an individual may master certain skills - for example, the ability to produce tables and graphs using spreadsheet software - one characteristic of ICT skills is that they are often the product of a process of continuous learning (HRDC 2002, Bertelsmann Foundation & AOL Time Warner Foundation 2002, Committee on Information Technology Literacy 1999, Ginsburg and Elmore 1998). Because the learning process is continuous, learners often incorporate several methods to learn necessary computer skills, both formal and informal, and seldom rely on only one method of learning. Formal methods include courses sponsored by an employer, while less formal methods may include help from colleagues or family, the use of manuals and books, observing others, or self-teaching through trial-and-error (Dryburgh 2002, Felstead et al. 2002). It is through the particularly rapid change taking place in underlying technology (for example, the introduction of new versions of software, supporting hardware or interface technologies) that skill requirements change. The ability to learn and keep up with application-specific knowledge, while also developing and maintaining a growing set of core ‘generic’ skills, therefore become essential to participating in the digital world.

At the same time, the role of formal education in building a workforce equipped with ICT skills is currently the subject of debate. While formal education such as training at colleges and universities may be an effective means to reach the future workforce, the rapid nature of technological change and developments in the world of ICTs emphasize the need for lifelong learning over one-time educational instruction. Nonetheless, education can be an important means to develop at least basic ICT skills and the relatively recent introduction of ICTs in schools may mean that as time goes by more people are likely to use ICTs in school (OECD 2004).

One study found that those with more education have higher ICT skills, but suggests that more educated people tend to work with computers, making it difficult to differentiate whether education or employment has the biggest impact on ICT skill levels (DfES 2003). While beyond the scope of this study, more effort is needed in the future to measure ICT skills directly and gain insight into their development and evolution.

Differences in ICT use and familiarity by education level in 2003 were strongest in Bermuda and Italy and slightly smaller in Canada, the United States, Norway and Switzerland (Chart 14). In Canada, the gap between individuals with upper secondary (high school) education and those who did not complete high school was greater than the gap between those with high school and those with post-secondary education. While differences in intensity and diversity of Internet use, and use of computers for task-oriented purposes were clear, differences by education level were smaller for perceived usefulness and attitudes towards computers.

4.4 Synthesis

In order to gain a better understanding of some of the factors affecting ICT use, the index measuring the use of computers for task-oriented purposes was examined in more detail. The remaining part of this section uses a logistic regression to measure the degree to which different factors influence the odds of being a high-intensity user of computers for task-oriented purposes (see Box 3).

The results varied substantially by country. In some countries gender exerted a particularly strong influence on the use of computers for task-oriented purposes. While controlling for other factors, men in Italy, Norway and Switzerland were still more likely to be high-intensity computer users. In contrast, and consistent with findings reported earlier in this paper, gender differences with respect to ICTs were smaller in North America. In fact, in Bermuda there was no difference in the odds between males and females of being a high-intensity computer user.

The analysis also confirmed that education is strongly associated with computer use. In the United States and Italy, adults with upper secondary education had more than two times the odds of being high-intensity computer users compared to those with less education. In the remaining countries, the odds were approximately twice as high for adults with post-secondary education compared to those with less than upper secondary educational attainment - even while controlling for other variables.

The results also reaffirmed that those with high levels of household income were more likely to be intense computer users. In most countries, respondents whose income falls in the top income quartile had approximately two times the odds of being high-intensity users of computers for task-oriented purposes compared to those with lower income.

Literacy skills proved highly correlated with computer use. As literacy skill levels² increased, the odds of being a high-intensity computer user increased. For example, in the United States and Switzerland, a respondent with high prose literacy skills (levels 4 and 5) had nearly twice the odds of being a high-intensity user compared to respondents with low literacy (levels 1 and 2). The relationship between literacy skills and computer use was even stronger in Canada, Bermuda, and Norway, where respondents with high literacy skill levels had between two to more-than-three times the odds of being intense computer users compared to those with low literacy skills. Furthermore, in all countries except Norway, the gaps between low and average literacy groups were greater than the gaps in the odds ratios between those with average and high literacy. Table 11 depicts the odds ratios of being a high-intensity computer user by different literacy levels.

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1. An estimated 3.2 million Canadian households actively participated in e-commerce in 2003, spending just over $3.0 billion on Internet shopping. Although rising every year, this represented only a fraction of the $688 billion in total personal expenditure in Canada in 2003 (Statistics Canada 2004).
2. For a detailed description of literacy levels, see Statistics Canada and OECD (2005), Learning a Living: First Results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, Ottawa and Paris.