Technology
Use of technology
Using the internet
The self-reported proficiency in using the internet is extremely high, with 90% of the respondents saying they can use the internet. There are some relevant differences on this topic between both the control-and-treatment groups and both sexes.
Men are far more confident in their proficiency in using the internet than women, just as respondents from the treatment group are more confident than respondents from the control group: 95% of men versus 85% of women said they can use the internet; similarly, 94% of the treatment group versus 87% of the control group said they can use the internet.
Men - T8: Can you use the internet?
Treatment - T8: Can you use the internet?
Women - T8: Can you use the internet?
Control - T8: Can you use the internet?
Helping other use technology
A majority of 118 respondents (64% of the total) has helped someone else with their phone or the internet. Similar gender and group differences exist here: while about half of all women say they helped someone (52%) this percentage for men is 75%. For the control group the percentage was 60% while 68% of the treatment group has helped someone else.
Men - T12: Have you helped anyone else use their phone/internet/technology?
Treatment - T12: Have you helped anyone else use their phone/internet/technology?
Female - T12: Have you helped anyone else use their phone/internet/technology?
Control - T12: Have you helped anyone else use their phone/internet/technology?
Interestingly, a sizeable chunk of respondents (12) that said they could not use the internet themselves, have in fact helped someone else use their phone or the internet.
T12: Have you helped anyone else use their phone/internet/technology?
Respondents that said they could not use the internet themselves but have helped other use their phone/internet/technology.
| Respondents | T13: If you have helped anyone else use their phone/internet/technology, please explain? |
|---|---|
Learning
Eager to learn
Respondents were asked a number of questions on what they have learned recently and what they would like to learn about (relating to technological matters). Overall, a majority of respondents is open to learning about their phone or the internet and a majority also indicate they have learned something recently about technology (or their phone or the internet).
When asked what they would like to learn about, "apps" was the answer given most often. This is true for both the Treatment and the Control group, although this answer featured more dominantly in the Treatment group. The two groups show some minor differences on this topic, but more similarities. The second most common answer (for both groups) was "Nothing": 17% or 32 respondents in total. This means 152 respondents had some issue relating to their phone or the internet that they are eager to learn about. Other common answers in both groups were "Phone settings" and "Social Media".
Learned recently
When asked what they had learned recently about their phone, the internet or technology in general, about two thirds of the respondents could give an example. For each question (relating to technology, their phone or the internet specifically) around 30% (or 50 respondents) said they had learned nothing. While some of these respondents (17) answered "Nothing" on all three questions, most didn't, meaning that a total of 167 respondents (90%) learned something about either their phone, the internet or technology in general.
The Treatment and Control groups consistently differ on this topic: a smaller portion of the Treatment group say they learned nothing recently. For the question about their phone the difference was most outspoken: 23% of the Treatment group answering "Nothing" versus 34% of the Control group. For the question about technology in general this was 29% versus 33% for the Control group.
T11: What would you like to learn about your phone/internet since the last visit?
T11: What would you like to learn about your phone/internet since the last visit?
T6: What did you learn recently about technology?
| Respondents | T6: What did you learn recently about technology? |
|---|---|
T7: What did you learn recently about your smartphone?
| Respondents | T7: What did you learn recently about your smartphone? |
|---|---|
T9: What did you learn recently about the internet?
| Respondents | T9: What did you learn recently about the internet? |
|---|---|
T1: Has your use of technology or smartphone changed since the last visit?
T1: Has your use of technology or smartphone changed since the last visit?
Changes since last interview
More than half of all respondents indicate their use of technology or their smartphone has changed since the last interview (about a month ago). There is a (small) difference here between Control and Treatment. While 59% of the treatment group report a change in their use, 53% of the control group does the same.
T3: Have you been using your smartphone more or less recently?
The change in use means more use for about two thirds of the respondents. Only 11% (20 respondents) say they have been using their smartphone less. About a quarter of the respondents (46) report the same amount of smartphone use.
Some of the answers to question T1 and T3 seem to contradict each other: a total of 81 respondents said their use of their smartphone (or technology) has not changed but when asked directly about using their smartphone more (or less) a far smaller group of 46 respondents reported no change. This discrepancy can mean several things:
The small differences in the phrasing of question T1 and T3 might account for the different answers (T1 for instance asks about smartphone use and technology use, while T3 only asks about smartphone)
Accurate self-reporting of "change" in the respondents' use of technology is more difficult when the question is general ("Has your use of X changed") compared to a more specific question ("Have you been using X more?"). In this case the change in use of smartphones and technology (as answered in question T1) might be underreported.
T5: How often have you been using your smartphone?