Dick Stroud, Acting MD of Digital Unite is inspired by the latest internet access figures from the Office for National Statistics, but says there is still much work to be done.
I have had a good look through the report and attempted to derive some useful (hopefully interesting) observations. The ONS deserve our praise for compiling this research from 41,000 households and being so helpful in providing DU with additional data. Their responsiveness was really impressive. It is still depressing to know, some 22 years after the first commercial dial-up access became available, that 14% of UK adults (7.1 million people) have never used the internet. The observations that many of those not online do not see the need to get online, and one in five do not have the skills, show that there is a lot more to be done by organizations like Digital Unite in helping people access digiskills, and in showing just how much the internet and technology can enrich, inspire and improve people’s quality of life. Digital Unite and all those in the digital inclusion space should see this as a challenge, and one that we can meet head on! Potentially better news from the ONS is that in the last year three quarters of million fewer people can be termed ‘non-internet’ users. Even better news that in the last two years the percentage of non-users has fallen from 17.5% to below 14% of the adult population – this equates to about 3 million additional internet users. Without wishing to be a damp squib however, we must curb our enthusiasm a little and remember that these statistics have not cross-referenced against other statistics. How many of these additional people now online, are actually cohort effects? For example, if 100 people over 75 have passed away since the last stats were released, and 80% of them were effectively offline, the bald stats will show 80 fewer people now who are offline. At the same time, say 100 people have now joined the 75+ cohort and 40% of them are effectively offline, i.e. there are now an extra 60 people in the cohort who are online. So when we take into account the fact that some people within this age group will have passed away, and some of those online have moved up into another age group, the picture is a little less rosy. Now that’s not to say we shouldn’t be happy about improvements, and every single new internet user IS worth celebrating, but we must also be rigorous in how we analyse data, especially if we’re going to use such data to work out how much work there is still to be done! For Digital Unite, the challenge we face is that the over-75s now represent nearly half of all the adults in the UK that haven’t used the internet. Did you know that in the last 24 months, West Lothian had increased its percentage of adult internet users to over 90% and during the same period in East Derbyshire the percentage declined, yes that is right, declined by over 8%? The geographic statistics make fascinating reading but beware – the ONS has a health warning about their accuracy. Make sure you read it before jumping to conclusions. Based on this latest data, it also seems that the older we are, the less likely women are to use the internet. By the age of 75 and over, the difference between men and women has grown to 14%. We need to reassess how we can try to close this gender gap. We need to understand what it is about the way we promote, teach and share internet skills that is not currently as appealing to women. The ONS now asks respondents, “when did you last use the internet?”. The figure that jumps out for us is that 14% of over-75s last used the internet over three months ago. This means that they are effectively ‘non-users’. The disturbing conclusion is that over 80% of this age group are simply not active users. Applying the same principle that if you haven’t used the internet for the last three months you are a non-user, means that there are still 40% of 65 to 74-year-olds who are not active users. That’s 40% of this age group unable to access cheaper shopping deals, internet banking, online council tax payments or car tax renewals. That’s 40% of 65 to 74-year-olds who haven’t experienced the joy of speaking to far flung relatives over the internet, or seeing their grandchildren’s photos on Facebook. So there is still work to be done. As an organisation, we’re rolling up our sleeves.