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Understanding of smartphone divide dal yong

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The document discusses the evolution of the digital divide in the smartphone era. It argues that a dual digital divide has emerged: 1) Between smartphone users and non-users and 2) Among smartphone users due to differences in skills and access to applications. While access gaps are shrinking, inequalities persist due to high subscription fees and limited skills that prevent full utilization of smartphone capabilities. The author calls for policies to promote digital inclusion and reduce disparities in quality of smartphone use.

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Understanding of Smartphone Divide: from digital divide to digital inclusion in the smartphone era Dal Yong Jin Simon Fraser University
Understanding the Digital Divide • The digital divide as one of the most significant agendas • Two major problems in the discourse of the digital divide: - inequalities in material access to technologies - inequalities in the skills to use ICT efficiently (Selwyn 2004) • A bipolar division cannot explain the multiplicity of recent dynamics
Digital Divide as a Social Issue • The digital divide as a serious social issue in the smartphone era • Policymakers and ICT experts - smartphones bridge the digital divide, but the smartphone has not become the solution - people do not benefit from smartphones because of soaring subscription fees or a lack of skills - cannot subscribe to expensive smartphone services, nor access several value-added applications
Emergence of the Smartphone Divide • The digital divide has remained worrisome because of smartphones’ huge potential • Simply focusing on access or skill ignores a smartphone’s capabilities to perpetuate inequalities • The discussions on the digital divide should be rather nuanced, reflecting diverse standards for measuring disparities • Need for newly developed conceptual frames in the smartphone era
Discussion Topics • Analyzes the digital divide pertinent to smartphone technologies • Contextualizes the digital divide beyond statistical measurements • Suggests a shift of emphasis, from a traditional understanding of the divide to a dual divide
Methodologies • A historical approach contextualizing the growth of the smartphone and relevant sociocultural issues • Survey research on people’s consciousness of smartphones conducted in Dec. 2014 • A total of 1,000 mobile users were interviewed; respondents were 19 years of age or older, and 49.5% were male and 50.5% female - 81.8% had a smartphone, while 18.2% did not
A Dual Digital Divide in the Smartphone Era • A smartphone gap leads to a dual digital divide: 1) an intergroup divide between smartphone users and nonusers 2) an intragroup divide among smartphone users caused by differences in skill levels • An intragroup smartphone divide arises between users who use limited functions and users who use a diverse set of applications • A new smartphone divide is created based on a user’s ability to access and use an array of different services
Monthly household expenditures on communications in OECD (Unit: US Dollars) 100.1 66.5 115.5 77.4 59.0 77.1 61.5 43.8 52.0 40.3 37.8 43.6 7.5 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 fixed mobile Internet
Mobile-based Divide in Korea, 2013 (Unit: %) Disabled Low Income Farmers /Fishermen The Elderly Total Mobile Access 53.5 74 48 55.8 57.5 Mobile Skills 37.2 58.9 31.1 30.7 36.2 Mobile Use 35.8 59.9 29.2 32.1 36.8 Total 41.8 63.8 35.7 38.8 42.9
The First-tier Divide • Between those who have smartphones and those who do not have smartphones • The simple linear divide will disappear in a few years • The dual digital divide in the smartphone is more systematic than access to the Internet because of value-added services • Users subscribe to the cutting-edge service- people do not enjoy significant services that others have access to due to high cost
Categories Samples Yes No Total Total 1,000 81.8 18.2 100 Education Elementary 50 18 82 100 Middle School 95 35.8 64.2 100 High School 474 86.7 13.3 100 University 367 95.6 4.4 100 Graduate School 14 92.9 7.1 100 Job Management 9 77.8 22.2 100 Professional 42 90.5 9.5 100 Office Worker 184 98.4 1.6 100 Retail/Service 168 95.2 4.8 100 Mechanic 43 74.4 25.6 100 Simple labor 34 47.1 52.9 100 Agriculture/Fishing /Forestry 22 45.5 54.5 100 Housewife 204 66.7 33.3 100 Students 67 98.5 1.5 100 Retired/no Job 37 43.2 56.8 100
The Second-tier Divide: the quality of use • This systematic digital divide combines with the divide stemming from the quality of use - the second divide • The second-tier divide is outlined according to a few variables - skills, abilities, problem-solving abilities, and empowerment • The digital divide creates more complicated and multifaceted consequences than the Internet divide
The Second-tier Divide… • 30% of mobile subscribers used feature phones as of Sept. 2014 -10% of smartphone subscribers used MVNOs • MVNOs offer cheaper plans up to 50% and services with limited calling time, number of messages, and data • MVNO subscribers have increased, so the divide among smartphone users has been intensifying
The Most Significant Factor in Selecting Smartphone Service Plan (Unit: %) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Subscription Fees Convenience Data Size Design Others 50.4 24.9 12.5 11.2 1
Sociocultural Interpretations of the Digital Divide in the Smartphone Era… • 62.3% responded that they were overwhelmed by current subscription fees • The age group 19-29 felt the most pressured (52.5%), while 44.6% of those above 60 felt some burden • The notion of a digital divide implies a chain of causality - the lack of access to computers harms life chances- those who are already marginalized will have fewer opportunities to access and use the smartphone
Digital Inclusion in the Smartphone Era • Public policy resolving imminent issues, including the enhancement of both mobile skills and mobile use among social minorities - individuals can participate in society and control their own destinies, taking into account a variety of factors related to economic resources • Not only an adequate sharing of resources, but also participation in the determination of individual life chances (Stewart 2000) • Digital inclusion emphasizes policy intervention to reduce digital inequalities and to foster participation of all citizens to the information society
Digital Inclusion in the Smartphone Era: Policy Perspectives… • A greater understanding of the contexts of inequality, beyond single factors such as access or diffusion, is imperative • One of the most significant considerations is to understand the ways in which to enhance the quality of smartphone use • Without resolving the disparity in sociocultural issues, it is difficult to overcome the digital exclusion • The increasing use of smartphones has intensified inequalities in participation
Conclusion • The emergence of the dual divide: 1) the divide between the smartphone haves and the smartphone have-nots 2) the divide among the smartphone haves • The digital divide has become a new form of digital exclusion and is further marginalizing already oppressed and disenfranchised individuals • It is vital to develop policy initiatives to extend our perspectives toward digital inclusion • Since they are informed citizens with new media, it is imperative for people to use their smartphones to participate in major policy decision processes

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Understanding of smartphone divide dal yong

  • 1. Understanding of Smartphone Divide: from digital divide to digital inclusion in the smartphone era Dal Yong Jin Simon Fraser University
  • 2. Understanding the Digital Divide • The digital divide as one of the most significant agendas • Two major problems in the discourse of the digital divide: - inequalities in material access to technologies - inequalities in the skills to use ICT efficiently (Selwyn 2004) • A bipolar division cannot explain the multiplicity of recent dynamics
  • 3. Digital Divide as a Social Issue • The digital divide as a serious social issue in the smartphone era • Policymakers and ICT experts - smartphones bridge the digital divide, but the smartphone has not become the solution - people do not benefit from smartphones because of soaring subscription fees or a lack of skills - cannot subscribe to expensive smartphone services, nor access several value-added applications
  • 4. Emergence of the Smartphone Divide • The digital divide has remained worrisome because of smartphones’ huge potential • Simply focusing on access or skill ignores a smartphone’s capabilities to perpetuate inequalities • The discussions on the digital divide should be rather nuanced, reflecting diverse standards for measuring disparities • Need for newly developed conceptual frames in the smartphone era
  • 5. Discussion Topics • Analyzes the digital divide pertinent to smartphone technologies • Contextualizes the digital divide beyond statistical measurements • Suggests a shift of emphasis, from a traditional understanding of the divide to a dual divide
  • 6. Methodologies • A historical approach contextualizing the growth of the smartphone and relevant sociocultural issues • Survey research on people’s consciousness of smartphones conducted in Dec. 2014 • A total of 1,000 mobile users were interviewed; respondents were 19 years of age or older, and 49.5% were male and 50.5% female - 81.8% had a smartphone, while 18.2% did not
  • 7. A Dual Digital Divide in the Smartphone Era • A smartphone gap leads to a dual digital divide: 1) an intergroup divide between smartphone users and nonusers 2) an intragroup divide among smartphone users caused by differences in skill levels • An intragroup smartphone divide arises between users who use limited functions and users who use a diverse set of applications • A new smartphone divide is created based on a user’s ability to access and use an array of different services
  • 8. Monthly household expenditures on communications in OECD (Unit: US Dollars) 100.1 66.5 115.5 77.4 59.0 77.1 61.5 43.8 52.0 40.3 37.8 43.6 7.5 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0 140.0 fixed mobile Internet
  • 9. Mobile-based Divide in Korea, 2013 (Unit: %) Disabled Low Income Farmers /Fishermen The Elderly Total Mobile Access 53.5 74 48 55.8 57.5 Mobile Skills 37.2 58.9 31.1 30.7 36.2 Mobile Use 35.8 59.9 29.2 32.1 36.8 Total 41.8 63.8 35.7 38.8 42.9
  • 10. The First-tier Divide • Between those who have smartphones and those who do not have smartphones • The simple linear divide will disappear in a few years • The dual digital divide in the smartphone is more systematic than access to the Internet because of value-added services • Users subscribe to the cutting-edge service- people do not enjoy significant services that others have access to due to high cost
  • 11. Categories Samples Yes No Total Total 1,000 81.8 18.2 100 Education Elementary 50 18 82 100 Middle School 95 35.8 64.2 100 High School 474 86.7 13.3 100 University 367 95.6 4.4 100 Graduate School 14 92.9 7.1 100 Job Management 9 77.8 22.2 100 Professional 42 90.5 9.5 100 Office Worker 184 98.4 1.6 100 Retail/Service 168 95.2 4.8 100 Mechanic 43 74.4 25.6 100 Simple labor 34 47.1 52.9 100 Agriculture/Fishing /Forestry 22 45.5 54.5 100 Housewife 204 66.7 33.3 100 Students 67 98.5 1.5 100 Retired/no Job 37 43.2 56.8 100
  • 12. The Second-tier Divide: the quality of use • This systematic digital divide combines with the divide stemming from the quality of use - the second divide • The second-tier divide is outlined according to a few variables - skills, abilities, problem-solving abilities, and empowerment • The digital divide creates more complicated and multifaceted consequences than the Internet divide
  • 13. The Second-tier Divide… • 30% of mobile subscribers used feature phones as of Sept. 2014 -10% of smartphone subscribers used MVNOs • MVNOs offer cheaper plans up to 50% and services with limited calling time, number of messages, and data • MVNO subscribers have increased, so the divide among smartphone users has been intensifying
  • 14. The Most Significant Factor in Selecting Smartphone Service Plan (Unit: %) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Subscription Fees Convenience Data Size Design Others 50.4 24.9 12.5 11.2 1
  • 15. Sociocultural Interpretations of the Digital Divide in the Smartphone Era… • 62.3% responded that they were overwhelmed by current subscription fees • The age group 19-29 felt the most pressured (52.5%), while 44.6% of those above 60 felt some burden • The notion of a digital divide implies a chain of causality - the lack of access to computers harms life chances- those who are already marginalized will have fewer opportunities to access and use the smartphone
  • 16. Digital Inclusion in the Smartphone Era • Public policy resolving imminent issues, including the enhancement of both mobile skills and mobile use among social minorities - individuals can participate in society and control their own destinies, taking into account a variety of factors related to economic resources • Not only an adequate sharing of resources, but also participation in the determination of individual life chances (Stewart 2000) • Digital inclusion emphasizes policy intervention to reduce digital inequalities and to foster participation of all citizens to the information society
  • 17. Digital Inclusion in the Smartphone Era: Policy Perspectives… • A greater understanding of the contexts of inequality, beyond single factors such as access or diffusion, is imperative • One of the most significant considerations is to understand the ways in which to enhance the quality of smartphone use • Without resolving the disparity in sociocultural issues, it is difficult to overcome the digital exclusion • The increasing use of smartphones has intensified inequalities in participation
  • 18. Conclusion • The emergence of the dual divide: 1) the divide between the smartphone haves and the smartphone have-nots 2) the divide among the smartphone haves • The digital divide has become a new form of digital exclusion and is further marginalizing already oppressed and disenfranchised individuals • It is vital to develop policy initiatives to extend our perspectives toward digital inclusion • Since they are informed citizens with new media, it is imperative for people to use their smartphones to participate in major policy decision processes