Olle Findahl Swedes and the Internet Swedes and the Internet 2013 Version 1.0 2013 Olle Findahl This text is protected under the law on copyright and is pro- vided with the license Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Sweden whose license terms can be found at http://creati- vecommons.org/, currently on the page http://creativecom- mons.org/licenses/by/2.5/se/legalcode . The illustrations are protected under the law on copy- right and is provided with the license Creative Commons Attribution –Non-commercial- Non Derivative Works 2.5 Sweden whose license terms can be found at http://creati- vecommons.org/, currently on the page http://creativecom- mons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/se/legalcode . In the processing of work, .SE’s logos and .SE’s graphic ele- ments shall be removed from the processed version. They are protected by law and are not covered by the Creative Commons license outlined above. .SE climate compensates for their carbon dioxide emissions and supports climate initiative ZeroMission. See www.zero- mission.se for more information about ZeroMission. Author: Olle Findahl Design: Bedow Cover photo: © iStockphoto.com First edition. ISBN: 978-91-87437-02-1 .SE (the Internet Infrastructure Foundation) is responsible for the Swedish internet’s top-level domain. .SE is an inde- pendent public organisation working for a positive develop- ment of the internet in Sweden. Organisation number: 802405-0190 Visiting address: Ringvägen 100 A, 9 tr, Stockholm Mailing address: .SE Box 7399, 103 91 Stockholm Telephone: +46 8 452 35 00, Fax: +46 8 452 35 02 E-mail: [email protected] www.iis.se foreword 4 summary 5 01. stability in usage and increasing mobility 9 Large increase in mobile internet with smartphones and tablets. What stands out? 02. the mobile boom 14 Table of Contents Sharp rise of smartphones. Women spend more time on the mobile phone than men. Continued increase in tablets. Has the smartphone spread the fastest in the history of technology? 03. the most common activities, the most popular sites and new friends 20 File sharing is on the same level as before. E-commerce is increas- ing slightly. Many have made new friends on the internet. National content on the internet dominates over international and local. 04. will the mobile internet replace the computer? 25 Do people use computers or smartphones when they read e-mail, play games, read web magazines, and watch Play-TV? What is best suited for mobile phones and what is best suited for tablets? 05. communication and social networks 32 Facebook keeps it’s grip. Many are in interest communities. Blogs. Twitter. Instagram. 06. children and young people 39 Access to a computer, mobile phone and tablet. Pre-school chil- dren. School childen. Young teenagers. Older teenagers. The in- ternet has become increasingly important for schoolwork. How problematic is the internet for kids? 07. will web versions replace traditional media? 47 Distinguishing between daily operations and occasional usage. How much time on the internet is spent on traditional media? Main news sources of different ages. Few people read e-books. 08. digital divides 55 Divides among children and adolescents. Divides in the working population. Digital divides over 65 years. 09. sense of belonging and dependency 59 What distinguishes those who feel included in the information society? Is there an addiction to the internet? 10. sweden in the world 65 International comparisons.. conclusion 68 literature 70 method 72 tables 76 index 78 foreword Foreword Eighteen years after the the diffusion started in 1995, the internet today has an assured place in the majority of Swedes’ everyday life next to the daily newspaper, magazines, radio, books and television. Use has stabilized and become part of the daily routine. In recent years, the mobile internet has made inroads. The internet has been moved from the desktop computer to smartphones and tablets. After the pri- mary diffusion phase and the subsequent broadband phase, we are now in the mobile phase. How does it change the internet’s availability and human use patterns? When new technologies are spreading, new digi- tal divides arise. What do they look like? Is there potential to bridge the gap? Smartphones and tablets make the in- ternet available everywhere. Does this mean that they will eventually outrank the traditional computer? The content of traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television is now easy to peruse on the internet anytime and anywhere. Does this mean that the tradi- tional media forms are about to lose out to the digital forms on the internet? There are still many questions to an- swer eighteen years after the diffusion of the internet started to take up speed and new questions arise all the time. Olle Findahl 4 summary Young women are taking over the internet Summary Four years ago, young women were the most active on social networks and blogs. Today, smartphones have reinforced this dominance even further. It appears that girls between the ages of 12 to 15 are more involved in the information society than Internet use has stabilized while the boys. mobile boom continues The overall use of the internet continues The spread of the tablet has taken off at a slight increase, but the biggest change In the past two years the spread of tab- is in mobile internet. The time spent on lets has gained momentum. Every third mobile internet has more than tripled in Swede (31%) has access to such a platform. just two years. It is primarily the current generation of young parents and their children that There are still 1.1 million without internet have the largest interest in tablets. The internet continues to spread more and more, but the expansion is decreas- Nearly half of two-year olds use the ing every year. The number of those not internet using the internet or using it very rarely Almost half (45%) of two-year olds today has declined by 100,000 since last year. use the internet and among preschool children this number is now 25 to 30 per- More and more have smartphones cent that use the internet daily. Four years Two out of every three people use a mobile ago, it was only a few percent.. Virtually phone to connect to the internet. This is an all children up to seven years, who daily increase from 22 to 65 percent in three years. use the internet, also use a tablet. Young people drive development further The internet takes a larger role in schools Young people are the main drive in the Over the past four years, time with the growth of smartphones. This is most no- internet in schools has doubled. Half of ticeable for those between the ages of 12 school children over ten years use the in- to 15 years where 78 percent use a smart- ternet to do school work at least once or phone daily. Just two years ago, this figure several times a week. was only at five percent. There are still many children not using the Only the latest mobile phone suits the young internet in school Young people have the latest model of More than half of children that are young- smartphone purchased in the last 12 er than 10 years never do schoolwork on months, while older people generally use the internet and a majority between the an older model. The younger you are, the ages of ten to eleven years old use the in- newer the model. ternet for schoolwork only occasionally. 5 summary Many school children believe the internet Facebook keeps a firm grip to be as important for their studies as for Virtually all people who visit social net- their private lives works also visit Facebook. Two out of Two out of three students between the every three (66%) internet users, which ages of 12 to 15 years, believe that the in- represents more than half the population, ternet has become essential or very impor- visit Facebook at some time. Last year the tant to their schoolwork. There are almost amount was 64 percent. The most active as many who believe that the internet has are men between the ages of 16–25 where become an important part of their pri- 76 percent visit Facebook daily. Among vate life. For those slightly older, there are seniors, less than 10 percent do the same. somewhat more who believe that the in- ternet is more important for studies than Younger and younger children are on for privacy. social networks Social networking sites are frequented by Young people are the most active on the younger and younger children. Already internet at eight years old, 18 percent visit social Young people between the ages of 16 to 25 networks. In nine years this has climbed years are the most active of all. Eight out of to 30% continuing at a rapid pace to the ten young people comment on what oth- age of twelve with 81% users. Two out of ers have published. Eight out of ten post three (65%) girls make daily visits. status updates, while five out of ten post comments on open discussion forums. A third of young people’s internet time is spent on social networks File sharing is on the same level as The amount of time that young people before (12–15 years) spend on social networks oc- File sharing remains at the same level as cupies a third of the time they spend with before. Twenty percent of the population the internet at home or at other locations uses some type of file-sharing service to outside of the school.