The European survey focused on children (9-16 years old) who had used the Internet at least once in the previous twelve months. Eurostat estimates indicated four southern countries having Internet access below 70% (Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus). Portugal rated 78%, reflecting the impact of recent policies.
Two distinct groups – North European countries (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the UK) and the East European countries that transitioned to market economies in the 1990s (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland) – achieved proportions over 90%. While in the northern countries, adults led in most frequent use of the Internet, in the eastern countries, children entered rapidly in the digital world, resulting in a more pronounced gap between generations than in the south (for differences in European families see Paus-Hasebrink et al, 2012). Thus, the digital landscape in Europe is far from homogeneous.
The socioeconomic differences of the more than 25 thousand households interviewed, selected by the level of education and occupation of the head of the household, indicate a relatively balanced distribution: 34% hold high socioeconomic status, 42% medium, and 19% low.
Portugal stands out for having a pyramidal shape: 53% hold low socioeconomic status, 32%
medium, and 15% high.
In 2011, while Europe was in a period of economic stagnation or even recession – particularly serious in southern countries – Brazil emerged in a phase of economic dynamism. Cetic.br data for this year show that among classes AB Internet access in homes ranged between 76% and 96%. Among class C homes 35% had Internet access at home, while in class DE homes the proportion remained residually at 5%. On the other hand, for an estimated 45% with Internet access in the population, children were in the leadership: around two-thirds of those between 10 and 24 years old had accessed the Internet in the previous three months, while for 5- to 9-year-olds this proportion was 24%.
AGE AT FIRST ACCESS
The length of digital experience is a differentiating factor for skills and an indicator of the level of Internet penetration in a country. In 2010, the European average for first Internet access was 9 years old, ranging from 7 in Sweden to 11 in Greece. In Portugal, it was 10 years old.
In Brazil, in 2012 children below 10 years old accounted for 44% of respondents, but nearly a third (31%) had begun to use the Internet at 11 or more years of age. These differences are particularly evident in social classes: among those who began using the Internet after 11 years of age, 18% are in classes AB, about a third are class C, and almost half are classes DE (47%).
This emphasizes the inequality of starting points among these “digital generations”.
ENGLISH
LOCATION OF ACCESS
Among Brazilian children who use the Internet, the home stands out as the main location of access (60%), although with numbers well below the European average (87%) and that of Portugal (92%) – here for the previously mentioned reason of access to personal laptops. For the different location of access inside and outside the home (Chart 1), the school ranks first, followed by a public room in the home, friends’ homes, and LAN houses. More private access, such as in the bedroom, is well below European results and far from the Portuguese. On the other hand, Internet access via mobile phone is quite ahead of the European average, which might have resulted not only from mobile phone incentive policies but also from the two-year gap separating the European and Brazilian surveys.
ChART 1
LOCATION OF ACCESS IN BRAzIL, PORTUGAL AND EUROPEAN AVERAGE
SChOOL
hOME, IN A PUBLIC ROOM
RELATIVES’ hOME
LAN hOUSE/CYBERCAFÉ
FRIENDS’ hOME
hOME, IN A BEDROOM OR PRIVATE ROOM
‘OUT AND ABOUT’, BY MOBILE PhONE
PUBLIC LIBRARY OR OThER PUBLIC PLACE
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 BRAZIL
PORTUGAL
EUROPE Source: Cetic.br (2012) and EU Kids Online (2010) 42
72 63 40
77 85 38
48 41 35 5
14
34
50 51 26
67 49
18 4
8 4
25 12
However, the question remains as to how the diversity of access options is used. For example, do those with mobile phone access only use this method? Do those who access the Internet in public rooms in the home also access it in their bedrooms? Do some only have access at school or in LAN houses?
ENGLISH
Portuguese children appear among the most frequent users of free Internet access in libraries and other public places: 25% (fourth, behind Finland, Lithuania, and Estonia) against the European average of 12%. These digital spaces in libraries and youth centers may constitute important contexts for a less restrictive use than that of schools or some homes, allowing for learning and practicing skills while conducting mobilizing projects. Even so, this was not revealed in the 2011 survey in Portugal (PONTE, 2011).
TEChNOLOGICAL RESOURCES FOR ACCESS
As seen in Chart 2, while Portugal differs from the European average in access to laptops, personal or shared, Brazil coincides when shared PCs are placed first, but the reasons for this coincidence may vary. Mobile phones come ahead of personal PCs, TV access is quite low, and the high weighting of the “other” category corresponds to computers used outside the home, in LAN houses, for example.
ChART 2
EqUIPMENT USED TO ACCESS ThE INTERNET IN BRAzIL, PORTUGAL AND EUROPEAN AVERAGE
PERSONAL LAPTOP
ShARED PC
ShARED LAPTOP
PERSONAL PC
MOBILE PhONE
TELEVISION
GAMES CONSOLE
MOBILE DEVICE
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 BRAZIL
PORTUGAL
EUROPE Source: Cetic.br (2012) and EU Kids Online (2010) 10
65 24
38 41
58 9
35 22 20
33 35 21
32 31 1
28 32 3
25 26 2
7 12
ENGLISH
These results on equipment also raise questions of distribution: who accesses the Internet solely through private means, whether mobile or PC? Who does not have any access, and who has an array of means? How does this vary by age, gender, or social class?
FREQUENCY OF USE
Frequency of access allows us to investigate to what extent the Internet is part of everyday life.
Despite favorable access conditions and ownership of means of access, frequent Internet use (“every day or almost every day”) in Portugal is below the European average (57%), with 52%
among users with fewer socioeconomic resources.
In Brazil, frequent use is at 47%. While 66% of classes AB access every day or almost every day, less than half of class C (45%) and only 17% of classes DE are frequent users. Of these, nearly one third (31%) reported accessing the Internet once or twice per month or less.
In summary, in this first level of digital divide, despite the rapid growth of Internet penetration in Brazilian society and the leadership position of children, significant differences were found among the youngest: a high number still remains digitally excluded, and among those who access the Internet, there is a marked social difference regarding privacy of equipment and location as well as of frequency.