Digital Inequality During a Pandemic: Quantitative Study of Differences in COVID-19-Related Internet Uses and Outcomes Among the General Population
Digital Inequality During a Pandemic: Quantitative Study of Differences in COVID-19-Related Internet Uses and Outcomes Among the General Population
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DOI：
10.2196/20073
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发表时间：
2020-08-20
影响因子：
7.4
通讯作者：
van Deursen, Alexander J. A. M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
van Deursen, Alexander J. A. M.
背景：世界卫生组织将冠状病毒病(新冠肺炎)列为威胁全球健康的突发公共事件。在危机期间，公众对基于网络的信息和通信的需求是一个焦点问题。数字不平等研究表明，互联网接入在普通人群中的分布并不均匀。目的：本研究的目的是让人们及时了解不同的人如何使用互联网来满足他们的信息和通信需求，以及他们在新冠肺炎疫情中从使用互联网中获得的结果。我们还试图揭示性别、年龄、个性、健康、识字、教育、经济和社会资源、互联网态度、材料获取、互联网接入和互联网技能在多大程度上仍然是人们从事相应使用后获得互联网结果的重要因素。方法：我们使用基于网络的调查方法，利用在荷兰收集的样本。我们获得了1,733名18岁以上受访者的数据集。结果：男性更倾向于使用新冠肺炎相关的沟通工具。年龄与新冠肺炎相关信息使用呈正相关，与信息沟通效果呈负相关。适宜性与结果和信息使用都是负相关的。神经质与使用和沟通结果均呈正相关。尽责与任何用途或结果都无关。内向与沟通结果呈负相关。最后，公开性与所有信息的使用和两个结果都是积极相关的。身体健康与这两种结果都是负相关的。健康认知对信息使用和两种结果都有积极的贡献。传统识字与信息使用和这两个结果都有积极的关系。教育与信息和通信的使用有着积极的关系。经济和社会资源没有发挥作用。网络态度与信息使用和结果呈正相关，与交流使用和结果呈负相关。材料的获取和互联网的获取促进了所有用途和成果。最后，一些指标和结果在计入互联网使用后变得微不足道。结论：数字不平等是国内外学者和政策制定者主要关注的问题。这一贡献旨在通过将正在进行的新冠肺炎危机作为经验性工作的背景，提供对重大卫生大流行的更广泛的理解。有几个群体被确定为弱势群体，如老年人、受教育程度较低的人，以及身体健康问题、识字水平低或互联网技能低的人。一般来说，在健康大流行中，已经处于相对优势的人更有可能利用互联网提供的信息和交流机会为自己造福，而处于不太有利地位的个人则不太可能受益。因此，新冠肺炎危机也在加剧现有的不平等。
Background: The World Health Organization considers coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to be a public emergency threatening global health. During the crisis, the public's need for web-based information and communication is a subject of focus. Digital inequality research has shown that internet access is not evenly distributed among the general population.Objective: The aim of this study was to provide a timely understanding of how different people use the internet to meet their information and communication needs and the outcomes they gain from their internet use in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also sought to reveal the extent to which gender, age, personality, health, literacy, education, economic and social resources, internet attitude, material access, internet access, and internet skills remain important factors in obtaining internet outcomes after people engage in the corresponding uses.Methods: We used a web-based survey to draw upon a sample collected in the Netherlands. We obtained a dataset with 1733 respondents older than 18 years.Results: Men are more likely to engage in COVID-19-related communication uses. Age is positively related to COVID-19-related information uses and negatively related to information and communication outcomes. Agreeableness is negatively related to both outcomes and to information uses. Neuroticism is positively related to both uses and to communication outcomes. Conscientiousness is not related to any of the uses or outcomes. Introversion is negatively related to communication outcomes. Finally, openness relates positively to all information uses and to both outcomes. Physical health has negative relationships with both outcomes. Health perception contributes positively to information uses and both outcomes. Traditional literacy has a positive relationship with information uses and both outcomes. Education has a positive relationship with information and communication uses. Economic and social resources played no roles. Internet attitude is positively related to information uses and outcomes but negatively related to communication uses and outcomes. Material access and internet access contributed to all uses and outcomes. Finally, several of the indicators and outcomes became insignificant after accounting for engagement in internet uses.Conclusions: Digital inequality is a major concern among national and international scholars and policy makers. This contribution aimed to provide a broader understanding in the case of a major health pandemic by using the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as a context for empirical work. Several groups of people were identified as vulnerable, such as older people, less educated people, and people with physical health problems, low literacy levels, or low levels of internet skills. Generally, people who are already relatively advantaged are more likely to use the information and communication opportunities provided by the internet to their benefit in a health pandemic, while less advantaged individuals are less likely to benefit. Therefore, the COVID-19 crisis is also enforcing existing inequalities.