The digital divide and happiness – a presentation of the evidence
Date: April 2011
Contact: Helen Milner, Managing Director, UK online centres
, 0114 2270010
Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
1. Background to the Research
2. Definitions
3. Why we produced the report
3. Factors of well-being influenced by IT
1. General Confidence
2. Skills (Education) and employability
3. Social and family contact
4. Finances
5. Gender differences
6. Overall quality of life
4. Table of figures
5. Bibliography
6. References
1. Executive Summary
● David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, recently commissioned the Office of National Statistics to start measuring the wellbeing of the nation. This report examines the impact IT has on wellbeing. It draws from UK online centres’ own research, undertaken with research agencies ICM, Ipsos Mori and Freshminds over the last few years, and other recent reports including the BCS ‘Why IT makes you’happier’ report.
● It is not uncommon to find a stereotype that suggests that the benefits of IT on productivity and earnings are somewhat negated by the impact on life satisfaction. However, the in-depth BCS research found the opposite: ‘IT has a direct positive impact on life satisfaction, even when controlling for income and other factors known to be important in determining well-being’[1].
● When surveyed on the day David Cameron made his announcement about measuring wellbeing, 96% of UK online centre respondents stated that the internet had made their life better in some way[2].
● Furthermore, the benefits of IT impact across a breadth of areas of life. There is a particularly strong correlation between confidence about employability and use of the internet, with 25% more internet users feeling confident about their work skills compared to non-users[3].
● There are social benefits to being online, particularly amongst women, who find it easier to maintain social networks[4].
● BCS found that there is a correlation between the frequency with which men use the internet and their overall life satisfaction – the more frequently men use the internet, the higher their life satisfaction[5].
● There are also benefits to wellbeing through the empowerment that knowledge brings as internet users state that easier access to information increases their life satisfaction[6].
● There are financial benefits to being online, which can save the average individual around £560 per year, and this contributes to overall wellbeing[7].
● The biggest uplift in life satisfaction is achieved by people getting online for the first time. In their first couple of years online the difference that the internet makes in improving life satisfaction is most noted[8]. The BCS research also found the biggest benefit to wellbeing from being online would be achieved by providing access to those on low incomes and with fewest educational qualifications[9].
● There are some anomalies in the data, in particular the high number of non-users in the C2DE social group who stated their happiness as ‘very happy’, scoring 5 out of 5 consistently more frequently than internet users[10]. However, these anomalies may partially be explained by the strong-minded internet ‘Rejectors’ who feel that they have no need of the internet.
● Internet usage has now become so ubiquitous that the whole question about the benefit of IT can be looked at in a different way. Not only does this report demonstrate how having access to IT brings benefit to overall wellbeing, but indeed how not having access to IT now brings a disadvantage which could presumably lead to lower happiness and wellbeing. This is backed up by internet users who would feel at a loss without the internet, and those offline who feel excluded from certain benefits – such as savings and information - by their lack of access.
2. Introduction
1. Background to the Research
On 25th November 2010 the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, made an announcement asking for the Office of National Statistics to start measuring the wellbeing of the nation. This new measurement has been introduced recognising that measurements of GDP alone are insufficient to reflect a country’s overall progress. Indeed, David Cameron notes that as GDP is purely a measure of a country’s economic output events such as natural disasters, crime and disease can all potentially increase GDP as the country spends more to tackle such issues. Whilst GDP continues to be important, his intention is to add a separate measure which would give additional insight into the state of the country. That new measurement is the wellbeing of the nation.[11]
The Prime Minister is aware that attempting to measure wellbeing may be viewed as ‘woolly’ or subjective. However, this new step is intended to give ‘a general picture of whether life is improving’ in a way that can be utilised to aid discussion and shape future policy for the benefit of the nation[12].
Several studies have been conducted into the effects of IT. It is already well demonstrated that access to computers and the internet brings financial benefits both to the individual and the wider economy. However, there has also been research more recently into whether IT brings any benefit to overall wellbeing and life satisfaction. The results have been positive. This paper has been produced as a response to the government’s desire to include wellbeing in the policy-making process. It attempts to demonstrate that ensuring everyone has good access to IT is important and contributes to the nation’s wellbeing, in addition to the nation’s economy.
1. Background to UK online centres’ research
Measuring the ‘soft’ impact of technology on people’s lives is something UK online centres have been concerned with for some years. We help people get to grips with computers and the internet for the first time, and see first hand how it can enrich lives and empower people. Case study evidence has shown how technology can alleviate social isolation, boost confidence, increase employability, and improve quality of life. Measuring and tracking that sort of impact on a larger scale, however, has always been challenging.
UK online centres’ first attempt to put a measurable framework on wellbeing was 20 ‘social impact demonstrator’ projects, and we commissioned Ipsos Mori to produce a ‘Digital inclusion, social impact’ report about the projects, published in September 2008. This was followed in April 2009 with the ‘Does the internet improve lives’ report, commissioned from Freshminds Research. It looked more widely at the responses of C2DE internet users and non-users to a series of questions about quality of life, employability, and social contact. We updated this in November 2010, commissioning ICM to run a follow-up omnibus survey.
In addition, UK online centres have also contributed to the work followed up by PWC on making the economic case for online take-up. The research, commissioned by UK Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox, is now the cornerstone of thinking about the economic impact of digital inclusion. The April 2008 ‘Economic benefits of digital inclusion’ from UK online centres and Freshminds helped to inform the PWC case.
This paper pulls together and summarises from several pieces of relevant research, drawing from the catalogue of UK online centres’ own research, and the reports of other partners and stakeholders - including the recent ‘Why IT makes you happier;’ report from BCS. A full bibliography is available in Section 5.
2. Definitions
When looking at the issue of wellbeing it is necessary to define what we mean. Much of the primary research has focussed on self-reported wellbeing, and the subjective viewpoint of the respondent. Some of the research has been qualitative in nature, attempting to dig beneath the surface to explore the issues further.
Wellbeing is much more than happiness. Happiness can fluctuate rapidly and be affected by obscure events that would be difficult to predict or legislate for. Alexander Chancellor, commenting in the Guardian that happiness will be difficult to measure, noted, for example, that his happiness can be affected when the ‘knob on my electric cooker comes off in my hand.’ He is clearly attempting to equate happiness with wellbeing in his comment and he continues, ‘Wellbeing seems to be a very fragile condition, vulnerable to the tiniest, unpredictable events.’[13] Clearly happiness is linked to wellbeing. It is difficult to imagine defining a nation as ‘well’ if everyone is unhappy. However, David Cameron regards wellbeing as a measure of ‘our progress as a country, not just by how our economy is growing, but by how our lives are improving; not just by our standard of living, but by our quality of life.’[14] This is far more than just happiness. It is the impact that IT has on this progress and quality of life which we are attempting to measure in this report.
The BCS research, for example, used, amongst others, the World Values Survey which has two standard measures of wellbeing: self-reported life satisfaction and self-reported happiness. It found that often these two measures were combined to produce an overall wellbeing ‘score’. It also found that there was not much difference between the measures, so their own report focused on life satisfaction and they used that term interchangeably with the term wellbeing[15].
Previous research from UK online centres has divided the offline population into two types: Rejectors and Excluded. The Rejectors are those that have made a definite decision not to go online, believing that the internet will not add any additional benefit to their life. The Excluded are those who lack the necessary skills, confidence or access to use the internet[16]. It is worth noting that the research found that frequently the Rejectors are extremely confident and determined people who wish to actively demonstrate that they have no need for the internet[17]. This is important when considering the impact IT has on life satisfaction as the Rejectors may tend towards strong opinions that their life satisfaction is fine without computers.
2. Factors of well-being influenced by IT
1. General Confidence
Figure 1: Respondents’ perceptions of their happiness, self-confidence and quality of life (score out of 10)[18] (Freshminds Reearch, UK online centres: Does the internet improve lives? 2009)
The Freshminds and UK online centres research conducted in 2009 found that the internet users in the survey felt they were happier, more self-confident and had a better quality of life than the non-internet users did. The difference in perceived happiness was slight, with only approximately 1% difference between the two scores. The difference in scores for self-confidence was the most notable, with internet users reporting themselves as nearly 3% more self-confident than the non-users felt. However, the report highlighted that the differences in self-confidence and overall quality of life between internet users and non-internet users may possibly be accounted for partially by the fact that non-users are more likely to come from a lower social grade and lower income household than internet users[19].
Figure 2: General confidence of C2DE internet users and non-users[20] (ICM Omnibus, UFI/UK online centres Happiness Report, 2010).
The ICM survey actually found that non-internet users were more likely to report themselves as ‘very happy’ with their general confidence. In fact, 5% more non-internet users than users reported themselves in this category. However, when looking at scores 4 and 5 on the scale then the scales are slightly tipped in favour of internet users. The survey found that 75% of internet users rated themselves as 4 or 5 (out of 5) on the happiness scale, as opposed to only 73% of non-internet users[21]. The reason for this swing in favour of internet users could be down to the internet Rejectors who, as already noted, may have strong opinions, and want to demonstrate that they are happy without the internet. This could account for the high number of score 5 results from the non-users. The survey implies that overall more internet users are happy with their general confidence than non-users, even if the self-reported degree of happiness varies between the two groups.
Figure 3: Respondents’ perceived self-confidence (score out of 10)[22] (Freshminds Reearch, UK online centres: Does the internet improve lives? 2009)
The Freshminds survey breaks down the self-reported self-confidence scores by types of user and non-user and confirms that the internet Rejectors are significantly more self-confident than the Excluded non-users[23]. This gives some additional credence to the likelihood that the Rejectors could account for the high number of score 5 results in the ICM survey.
Figure 4: General confidence of UK online centre users before and after their experience at a centre[24] (Freshminds Reearch, UK online centres: Does the internet improve lives? 2009)
Figure 5: The level of confidence and happiness in using the internet UK online users felt before and after visiting a UK online centre[25] (Freshminds Reearch, UK online centres: Does the internet improve lives? 2009)
The Freshminds research included a progression survey looking at how generally confident people felt before and after using a UK online centre as well as how confident and happy they felt using the internet before and after using the centre. The results show that 66% of users felt generally confident before using the centre, rising to 87% afterwards. It seems probable that some of the respondents were feeling specifically apprehensive about using the centre to access the internet, particularly if they were very new users. However, the results demonstrate that these apprehensions were removed during the visit, and the vast majority of users felt generally confident after having been at a UK online centre. These figures are emphasised further by the more specific question about how confident they felt using the internet. Just 55% were confident beforehand rising to 95% afterwards, and even the level of happiness with using the internet had risen more than general confidence, from 63% to 87%. It is important to highlight, as the research noted, that UK online centres offer ‘holistic support’ and that therefore not all the increase in confidence can directly be attributed to the impact of the technology itself[26]. However, it also demonstrates the important role that UK online centres play in increasing the wellbeing of the nation, firstly by enabling access to the internet, and secondly by the wider support and friendship networks offered at the centres.