7.3. Daily life
The Internet has fundamentally changed a variety of daily activities, from communicating with others, to shopping and banking, to finding information and entertainment content.
On average, in the OECD area, 63% of Internet users accessed online social networks in 2018. Social media can enable individuals to maintain existing social relationships and to build new ones. Evidence on the impact of online social networks on real-life social connections and mental health is mixed. Some warn that online social contact may crowd out real-life interactions and lower the quality of face-to-face contact (Rotondi et al., 2017). However, much evidence supports the idea that online social networks enhance social capital (Dienlin et. al, 2017; Liu et. al., 2016). Nevertheless, it is likely that not all segments of society benefit from online social networks to the same extent. For example, people with mobility issues (e.g. the elderly) could benefit greatly from online networks but are less likely to have the skills needed to access and use them.
Online banking services are now widely available in OECD countries, often via apps as well as websites. On average, 66% of Internet users in the OECD area used online banking in 2018, though this proportion varies from 15% or less in Japan and Mexico, to over 90% in Estonia, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. While uptake of on-line banking in these countries increased by only 5-10 percentage points between 2010 and 2017, reflecting their longstanding near-ubiquitous use, adoption has increased strongly in many other countries, tripling in Greece, and roughly doubling in Turkey and the Czech Republic since 2010. In almost all countries, individuals from households in the highest income quartile are most likely to use online banking, while those in the lowest quartile tend to have a much lower uptake. In some countries, the lowest income households may tend not use banking services at all, or use small local banks that do not offer online banking, leading to a wide disparity in uptake. For example, in Brazil online banking use was 58 percentage points higher amongst people from the highest income households than the lowest income households in 2016.
The Internet offers ready access to an almost infinite pool of information. In 2017, on average, 65% of people aged 16-74 in the OECD area used the Internet to access news content – an increase of around one-third compared to 2010. In Iceland, Norway and Korea, online news usage reaches 90% of people aged 16-74, whereas in Chile and Colombia, where Internet access itself is more limited, the share is around 20%. However, the quality of information available online can be highly variable. While in some cases online news offers an important alternative to printed or television news influenced by political or business interests, it can be challenging for users to ensure that the news they read online is correct and un-biased. As such, skills such as critical thinking, healthy scepticism, and the ability to research around news topics are likely to become increasingly important.
On average in the OECD, 90% of young people aged between 16 and 24 use the Internet for social networking, compared to 32% of 55-74 year olds.
Definitions
Internet users are individuals who accessed the Internet within the last three months prior to surveying. Some countries use different recall periods (see chapter notes).
Online news refers to “individuals using the Internet for reading online sites/newspapers/news magazines”.
Measurability
These data are typically gathered through direct surveys of households’ ICT usage, which ask if the respondent has undertaken a specific activity during the recall period. The OECD Model Survey on ICT Access and Usage by Households and Individuals (OECD, 2015) proposes a wide range of activities including social networking, e-banking, reading online news and many more. A recall period of three months (meaning the respondent should have undertaken the online activities in the three months prior to being surveyed) is recommended, though some countries use longer recall periods or specify no recall period at all. Such methodological differences may impact international comparisons.
Data might also reflect a variety of country-specific elements, including the diffusion and ease of use of alternative channels to perform certain activities (e.g. bank branches and ATMs in the case of banking services), as well as institutional aspects. For example, in Korea the amount of money individuals are allowed to transfer via the Internet is subject to limitations on grounds of security.
Measuring the frequency and intensity of social network use would provide important additional information. Specific research designs can help shed light on the positive and negative effects of social media use on people’s social connections and mental health. Longitudinal studies have the potential to be particularly instrumental in gaining insight on the causal effects of social media use on various dimensions of well-being.
While some ICT usage surveys inquire about online information search activities, they do not currently gather any information on the usefulness or quality of that information, or the quantities consumed. Given the wide variation in the quality of information available online, such binary measures offer only a very partial initial insight into individuals’ use of online information.