Digital inclusion and participation. Comparing the trajectories of digital media use by majority and disadvantaged groups in Portugal and the USA

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Online experiences of socially disadvantaged children and young people in Portugal

Publication . Simões, José Alberto; Ponte, Maria Cristina Mendes da; Jorge, Ana Margarida Ferreira Rato; Departamento de Sociologia (DS); Centro Interdisciplinar de Ciências Sociais (CICS.NOVA - NOVA FCSH); Departamento de Ciências da Comunicação (DCC); CIMJ - Centro de Investigação Media e Jornalismo; Centro de Investigação em Comunicação, Informação e Cultura Digital (CIC. Digital)

This article examines the conditions of internet access and uses by children and young people from socially disadvantaged environments in Portugal. Adapting the EU Kids Online questionnaire, a sample of 279 participants (9 to 16 years old) in an intervention program on digital inclusion was interviewed in order to analyze their online experiences, bearing in mind the EU Kids Online results and the wider debate on digital inclusion. This issue was examined at two levels: access, and practices and uses. Although economic deprivation, parents’ low educational attainment (affecting also family support) and children’s age and gender seem to matter in terms of access, reported uses were analogous to the average Portuguese and EU Kids Online data. However, with these children apparently being more oriented towards entertainment and having less informational skills, it is questionable if policies that merely assure access are entirely sufficient. Nevertheless, one cannot say straightforwardly that ‘social exclusion’ equates ‘digital exclusion’.

2013-01-01Artigo científico

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Entidade financiadora

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Programa de financiamento

3599-PPCDT

Número da atribuição

UTAustin/CD/0016/2008