Implications for social inequality in internet use for educational policies and programs

Abstract

It has long been assumed that families and family life have been affected over time by the various waves of ‘new’ media such as radio, television, video recorders, computers, multimedia and the internet (Van Rompaey et al. 2002). The extent of use of such technologies has been linked particularly with SES and education levels (Livingstone 1999), although gender is also said to influence uptake of ICT in that men are likely to make the decisions to purchase the hardware and use it (Hellman 1996). It also appears that when and if a family does decide to purchase new ICT, ‘it anticipates the effects that [such purchase] is likely to have on family life and the question of what is likely to be best for the children, in order to help prepare them for future careers and workplaces’ (Van Rompaey et al. 2002, p.190). It is also held that the ‘rapid diffusion and uptake of the Internet has been phenomenal’ (Holloway 2002, p.51) compared with earlier media technologies such as telephone and television.