Internet Access Does Not Improve Civic Competence

Internet Access Does Not Improve Civic Competence Sean Richey∗and Sophie Zhuy Abstract Scholars debate whether the Internet boosts civic competence. We predict that the Internet will have little effect on civic competence. We use American National Election Survey monthly panel survey data from 2008-2010 to test the role of In- ternet. We exploit the fact that the firm who conducted the survey—Knowledge Networks—gives out Internet access for free to those who have never had the In- ternet before in staggered waves, allowing us to create a novel Control-Waitlist research design. This allows us to analyze the quasi-random-assignment of the Internet to new users for a period of nine-months compared to a group that has not yet been given free Internet access. We find that nine months of Internet usage does not increase political interest, political efficacy, or political knowledge. An additional wave done after two and half years of access also shows little change. Our findings thereby raise serious doubts about the previous observational findings of the benefits of Internet usage for civic competence. ∗ Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Georgia State Univer- sity, [email protected] y Department of Political Science, Georgia State University, [email protected] Does the Internet increase civic competence? Recent studies examine how widespread Internet usage has fundamentally transformed the traditional ways of civic communication and how people participate in politics (Weber, Loumakis, and Bergman 2003). Scholarship shows that citizens often do not follow the news, lack of civic engagement, and know little about politics and public affairs. Given the time, financial and intellectual requirements, rational individuals have little in- centive to participate in politics (Downs 1957). The emergence of the World Wide Web was hoped to change this by lowering the costs of participation (Hampton and Wellman 1999; 2003). Abundant web resources are available for citizens to search information and exchange thoughts. Especially important for democratic theory is that lowering financial costs makes the Internet and PCs affordable for most people, so access is no longer an upper class privilege. Compared with traditional media, cyberspace provides an interactive platform for exchanging views, researching political issues, and never has it been so convenient for average citizens to communicate to policy-makers (Day, Janus, and Davis 2005). The potential of the Internet to inform and change political behavior is clear (Ward and Vedel 2006), and research findings have consistently shown a positive impact from Internet usage (e.g., Mossberger, Tolbert, and McNeal 2007). In- deed, researchers have consistently found that web users correlate with greater interest in political affairs, greater political knowledge, a higher likelihood to be involved in politics, and greater turnout than average citizens (for a summary of these findings see Chadwick 2006; and also see Bonchek 1997; Bimber 1997; Hill and Hughes 1998; Johnson and Kaye 1998, 2000). While there are some skep- tics such as Sunstein (2007), most of the debate so far has been about the digital divide and issues of differential populations having access, with the assumption being that once access is gained, it will benefit those who currently lack it (Norris 2001; Wresh 1996). Boulianne (2009) conducts a meta-analysis the impact of the Internet, it shows a consistent finding of greater civic competence across many observational studies. Thus, while some may have found alternative findings, em- 2 pirically Boulianne (2009) shows that a positive findings is a very common finding. But these previous studies do not randomly-assign Internet access, and are rife with well-known potential endogeneity and omitted variable bias concerns. We predict that both Internet access and usage will not improve civic competence. We develop a framework for a prediction for null effects for the Internet based on prior research about motivated selection in who chooses to go online. We use American National Election Study (NES) monthly panel survey data from 2008 presidential election to test the role of Internet. Most research up to this point has not been able to disentangle causality, but the panel data we use with quasi-random assignment of the Internet allows us to test causal relationships. We exploit the fact that the firm who conducted the survey—Knowledge Networks— gives out Internet access for free to those who have never had the Internet before in staggered waves, to create a novel Control-Waitlist research design for the effect of the Internet. We analyze this quasi-random-assignment of Internet access to new users for a period of nine-months compared to a group that has not yet been given free Internet access. Our results show that after using the Internet for over nine months, new users do not demonstrate greater political interest, political knowledge, or efficacy, when compared to the control group. After recontacting these groups after two and half years, there is no change from their starting levels before they had access. These findings raise serious doubts about the previous observational findings of the benefits of the Internet for civic competence. The Role of Internet in Civic Engagement Does the Internet have an effect on civic life? Positive assessments focus on how people will have greater access to political information through the use of new information technologies. Importantly, this information provision comes not simply from websites, but also online interpersonal communication (Hampton and Well- man 1999), or blog reading (Zuniga, Veenstra, Vraga, and Shah 2010). Schol- 3 ars using survey data find a significant positive effect between Internet usage and democratic citizenship (Best and Wade 2009; Nisbet, Stoycheff, and Pearce 2012). In contrast to non-users, Internet users demonstrate higher levels of political trust, higher likelihood of political participation and expanded social networks (Uslaner 1999; Hampton & Wellman 2000; Burt, Cook, and Lin 2001). Accessi- ble information online correlates with political involvement and produces a higher likelihood of voting (Johnson and Kaye 2003; Tolbert and Mcneal 2003). More Internet usage is associated with more civic and political participation (McLeod et al. 1996; Norris 2000; Weber, Loumakis, and Bergman 2003). Using 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey, Kenski and Stroud (2006) show a positive, significant association between Internet access, online exposure to campaign information, and internal efficacy, external efficacy, political knowledge, and participation. Important work by Mossberger, Tolbert, and McNeal (2007) show a largely beneficial impact from Internet usage on democratic citizenship. Other forms of information technology, such as mobile phones, have been convincingly shown to affect behavior (see e.g., Pierskallaa and Hollenbach 2013). Boulianne’s (2009) meta-analysis discusses 38 previous studies and finds that the majority of the researches show positive relations between Internet use and political engagement. In sum, much research finds a poistive relationship between the Internet and civic competence. Early critics argued that information online can be misleading, and therefore threatens the functioning of a deliberative participatory democracy. Critics also asserted that Internet use can drain social capital and accelerate civic decline (Put- nam 2000). Internet may corrode social capital by leading users into a virtual world, as there is less time for off-line social interaction and traditional media consumption. Individuals tend to spend more time on social websites and online chatting instead of networking in real life (Kraut et al. 1998; Nie and Erbring 2000). Other concerns include that Internet would polarize existing political ide- ology, as like-minded people or those with shared interests tend to cluster in vir- 4 tual communities (Wellman & Gulia 1999, Sunstein 2007). Among those who go online, there is a systematic difference in the websites they are likely to visit based on users’ demographic factors (Hargittai 2008). Additionally, some argue that the Internet usage and its effects are polarized to represent the existing power disparities (DiMaggio et al. 2001; Norris 2001). Wealthier, more educated, white, males are more likely to afford and use the resources of the Internet to represent their best interests, whereas the less educated, the less well-off are marginalized in this process (Chadwick 2006). While important, our research does not, however, specifically test these debates, so we leave them for other scholars to consider. Three areas of particular importance for civic competence are theorized to improve with Internet usage: political interest, political efficacy, and political knowledge. The ease of access to information combined with the stimulative interactive environments are supposed to spark interest, enable efficacious feelings, and dis- seminate knowledge. Most scholars find a positive effect on the Internet for these characteristics, but a few have not. Those who are not interested in politics may not pay attention to politics regardless of the ease of access to the information (Norris 2001). Lupia and Philpot (2005) find that the young people are most likely to be online, yet least likely to engage in political learning, and consequently, the Internet has little effect on their political participation (see also Bimber 2001). More broadly, meaningful online deliberation

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