Digital exclusion and relative digital deprivation: Exploring factors and moderators of internet non-use in the UK

2023/10/23 by Akiko Ueno, Charles Dennis, Georgios A. Dafoulas +1 · 33 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Appropriation #Business #Computer science #Demographic economics #Digital Economy and Work Transformation #Digital divide #Digital inclusion #Economics #Impact of Technology on Adolescents #Inequality #Internet access #Psychological intervention #Psychology #Sociology #Technology Use by Older Adults #The Internet #Virtuous circle and vicious circle #World Wide Web

paper · doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122935

published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change 197, 122935 (Elsevier BV)

openalex publication_date 2023/10/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

This paper investigates internet non-use in the UK. We apply Resource and Appropriation Theory (RAT), identifying main factors associated with internet non-use in the UK: (1) older age, (2) lower socio-economic classification, (3) disability, (4) less education/qualifications, and (5) lower housing tenure. We extend RAT by exploring magnifying effects of disadvantages, particularly, moderating effects of gender, housing tenure, urban/rural, North/South divide, and ethnicity. Internet non-users tend to be in lower-paid jobs, which impacts productivity even more during than before Covid, closing the loop of the RAT vicious circle. A thread runs through the results on the importance of attitudes and motivation. Accordingly, we recommend interventions based on Relative Digital Deprivation Theory. Once an individual understands that they suffer digital inequality, they are more likely to change attitudes and behavior to reduce inequality. If encouraged by family and friends, they may then view internet non-use as fixable and worth fixing, potentially becoming internet users.

Citations

• Digital Na(t)ives? Variation in Internet Skills and Uses among Members of the “Net Generation”
• Confidence Limits for the Indirect Effect: Distribution of the Product and Resampling Methods
• Revisiting the development trajectory of the digital divide: A main path analysis approach

Cited by

• Bridging the Educational Divide: A Delay-Tolerant Networking Approach for Equitable Digital Learning in Rural Areas
• Research landscape on digital inclusion for older adults: A bibliometric analysis
• Bridging the Digital Divide: How Family Factors and Learning Attitudes Shape Pre-Service Preschool Teachers’ Digital Literacy
• Enhancing access to primary care is critical to the future of an equitable health service: using process visualisation to understand the impact of national policy in the UK. [europepmc]
• How equitable is digital rehabilitation for people after stroke? A systematic review using an equity approach. [europepmc]
• Digital exclusion in healthcare services: a scoping review. [europepmc]

Related

• Digital inequality in disconnection practices: voluntary nonuse during COVID-19
• Bootstrapping the digital divide: a situational analysis of digital demands and collective capabilities in low-income households
• Digital Divide: Mapping the geodemographics of internet accessibility across Great Britain
• Housing, poverty, and digital exclusion: the multiple ways in which digital inequalities and housing inequalities intersect
• Moving on up in the information society? A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between Internet use and social class mobility in Britain