A78.
Rice, R.E. & Katz, J.E. (2003). Comparing internet and mobile phone
usage: Digital divides of usage, adoption, and dropouts. Telecommunications
Policy, 27(8/9), 597-623.
Results from a national representative telephone survey of Americans
in 2000 show that Internet and mobile phone usage was very similar, and
that several digital divides exist with respect to both Internet and
mobile
phone usage. The study identifies and analyzes three kinds of
digital
divides for both the Internet and mobile phones – users/nonuser,
veteran/recent,
and continuing/dropout -- and similarities and differences among those
digital divides based on demographic variables. The gap between
Internet
users and nonusers is associated with income and age, but no longer
with
gender and race, once other variables are controlled. The gap
between
mobile phone users and nonusers is associated with income, work status,
and marital status. The veteran/recent Internet gap is predicted
by income, age, education, phone user, membership in community
religious
organizations, having children, and gender; for mobile phones, age,
work
status and marital status are predictors. The gap between
continuing
and dropout users is predicted by education for Internet usage and
income
for mobile phone usage. Finally, cross-categorization of Internet
and mobile phone usage/nonusage is distinguished (significantly though
weakly) primarily by income and education. Thus, there are
several
digital divides, each predicted by somewhat different variables; and
while
Internet and mobile phone usage levels in 2000 were about the same,
their
users overlap but do not constitute completely equivalent populations.