Lost in mobile? Exploring the mobile internet digital divide among Chinese college students

• Autores: Lina Wang, Chun Liu
• Localización: International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, ISSN 2365-9440, Nº. 18, 2021
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • Mobile has become the primary mode of Internet access for many people. Existing studies have generally indInternet usage, Digital divide, Mobile internet, Multimodal internet, College studentsicated that mobile Internet represents an inferior substitute for traditional PC-based Internet. In particularly, mobile-only users are often found to be the most disadvantaged. This paper explores the usage characteristics of multimodal users by diferentiating mobile-reliant users, who primarily rely on mobile phones to access the Internet, and non-mobile-reliant users, who primarily use PCs to access the Internet, and investigates the socioeconomic characteristics of mobilereliant users, the association of the access preference and usage patterns, and whether a new type of digital divide has emerged. Based on data collected in a major public research university in southwest China, this study demonstrates that mobile-reliant users are not disadvantaged compared to non-mobile-reliant users in terms of usage, with the development of advanced mobile technology and the wealth of mobilefriendly content available therein. Practical implications for higher educators are alsoInternet usage, Digital divide, Mobile internet, Multimodal internet, College studentsB discussed.