Digital Divide: A Case of South Korean Older Adults

Dr. Hyunsun Yoon

Professor Guiohk Lee
Professor Suyun Lee

United Nations ESCAP

Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway
Steering Committee and WSIS regional Review
Third Session
27/08/19
 Research team
• Dr. Hyunsun (Catherine) Yoon (Presenter)
University of Greenwich, U.K.
h.yoon@gre.ac.uk

• Professor Guiohk Lee

Sejong University, South Korea

• Professor Suyun Lee

Sejong University, South Korea
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 Background

- South Korea is one of the most wired countries

in the world (BBC, 2016; Lankov, 2019)

- Internet penetration among the South Korean

population was 95.1% (Statista, 2018)

- While the digital divide is closing for young

cohorts, it is still an issue for older generations
(Friemel, 2016: 331)
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 What has the government done so far

• Information-literacy programme since 2005 for

870,000 people from disadvantaged groups

• 23,000 units of PC and other information devices

distributed (Dynamic IT Korea, 2008)

• Korean Agency for Digital Opportunity &

Promotion (KADO) set up to provide support for
vulnerable people (KADO, 2008)
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 Digital divide and older adults
• Despite the government’s digital inclusion
strategies, digital divide for older adults still
persists.

• Internet usage rate for the whole nation: 90.3%

Vs. 59.9% among the elderly population (NIA,
2018)

• Penetration rate of smartphones: 89.5% vs.

65.2% among the elderly (NIA, 2018)
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 Research design

• Face-to-face, researcher-assisted questionnaire

survey for 372 people, over 60, at 7 community
centres in Seoul in 2018

• Smartphone usage, types of functions used,

community-based ICT training courses

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 Findings
• 40.1% of participants do not use smartphones.
The demographic differences between
smartphone users and non-users are statistically
significant.

• Female elderly had a higher rate of smartphone

use than the male counterparts.

• Average age of smartphone users was lower

than that of non-users
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 • Percentage of smartphone users in their 70s
was relatively high

• Smartphone users showing a relatively higher

monthly income

• 56.1% of the elderly using smartphone had the

ICT training courses, while only 6% of non-users
had the same courses (Table 1).
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 • For the elderly smartphone users, ICT training
experience was a significant factor to predict
smartphone usage time (Table 2.)

• ICT-trained group showed higher smartphone

usage level (M=126 minutes) than the non-ICT
training group (M=81 minutes) (Table 3.)

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 Findings on Smartphone usage

• Most frequently used functions: Making phone

calls and checking the time

• Lowest usage of entertainment functions such

as watching movies and playing games (Table 3)

-> Majority not actively using their smartphones to

their potential

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 Other interesting finding

• A clear negative correlation between

smartphone usage and the level of loneliness
felt

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Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the Smartphone users vs. non-users
Items Smartphone users Non-smartphone users Total

N (%) M (SD) N (%) M (SD) N (%) M (SD)

Gender
Female
138 (61.9) 118 (79.2) 256 (68.8)
Male
85 (38.1) 31 (20.8) 116 (31.2)
Total
223(59.9) 149(40.1) 372(100.0)

Age 73.87 (5.75) 79.89(6.0) 76.28 (6.56)

61-70 69 (30.9) 10 (6.7) 79(21.2)
71-80 122 (54.7) 68 (45.6) 190(51.1)
Over 81 32 (14.3) 71 (47.7) 103(27.7)

Income* 147.17(159.03) 63.43(52.0) 113.63(133.79)

(monthly)

ICT Training
Yes
No 126 (56.5) 9 (6.0) 135 (36.3)
97 (43.5) 140 (94.0) 237 (63.7)

*10,000 Korean won

Table 2. Predictors of the duration using the smartphone among the
elderly users

Variables Average time using smartphone a day (minutes) t p

B SE ᵝ

-8.322 18.447 -.033 -.451 .652

Gender(M=1)

Age -1.973 1.537 -.092 -1.283 .201

.042 .055 .054 .772 .441
Income (monthly)

-24.037 19.513 -.095 -1.232 .219

Single(yes=1)

-2.149 6.316 -.024 -.340 .734

# of household

38.919 17.147 .157 2.270 .024

Informatization (yes=1)

*p<0.05
Table 3. Smartphone Usage of ICT Training group vs. non-training group (n=223)

ICT Training Yes No Mean (total)

Average time using smartphone a day 125.82 81.05 106.35

(minutes)*

Usage level of Smartphone Taking & managing pictures * 3.73 3.08 3.45
functions (mean)**

Watch & Alarm 3.85 3.23 3.58

Calculator* 3.13 2.36 2.81

Calendar * 3.59 3.02 3.35

Phone call 4.33 4.37 4.35

Text Message* 4.19 3.17 3.75

SNS* 3.47 2.67 3.13

Watching Movie & Drama* 2.03 1.47 1.79

Listening Music* 3.00 2.40 2.74

Gaming* 2.08 1.55 1.86

Internet Searching* 3.31 1.81 2.68

GPS* 2.37 1.63 2.05

Memo* 3.03 2.19 2.68

* p<0.05 ** 1. Never use--- 5. Very frequently use.

 Summary

• Still significantly lower rate of smartphone users

among older adults, especially older males

• Extremely limited usage of functions: calling and

checking the time

• ICT training courses are critical to gain full

access to potential benefits of smartphones

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 Policy recommendations
• Implementation of capacity building programmes
in community centres, in collaboration with
telecom retailers

• Structured induction programmes at major

telecom retailers -> Further ICT training courses
at community centre -> Continuous ICT training
courses after the adoption of smartphones

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 Collaborative effort

Government Industry

Community Telecom
centres retail outlets
Older adults

Taking up
new tech

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 Concluding thoughts: challenges and
opportunities
• Digital divide and its consequences are a threat
to those citizens who are not participants in
electronically mediated networks (Mansell, 2002:
407)
• Face-to-face communication is crucial (Yoon,
2014)
• Teaching an old dog new tricks? Older adults’
own reluctance to take up new technology

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 References
• BBC (2016) Live from South Korea: The Most Wired
Place on Earth. 2nd September. BBC World Service.
Business Matters. Available at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p045wgyq
[Accessed 5th May 2019]

• Friemel, T. N. (2016) The digital divide has grown old:

Determinants of a digital divide among seniors. New
Media & Society. 18(2): 313-331.

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• Lankov, Andrei (2019) How Korea has become world’s
most wired country. The Korea Times. 7th June.
Available:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2012/0
5/113_80600.html [Accessed 5th May 2019]
• Mansell, R. 2002. From Digital Divides to Digital
Entitlements in Knowledge Societies. Current
Sociology. 50(3): 407-426.
• NIA(2018). National Informatization White Paper,
National Information Society Agency, South Korea
• Rogers, E. (2003) Diffusion of Innovations. 5th ed. New
York: Free Press, A Division of Simon and Schuster.
• Statista (2018) Internet usage in South Korea –
Statistics & Facts. Available:
https://www.statista.com/topics/2230/internet-
usage-in-south-korea/ [Accessed 10th May
2019]
• Wong, Y. C., Fung, J. Y. C., Law, C. K., Lam, J.
C. Y., and Lee, V. W. P. (2009) Tackling the
Digital Divide. The British Journal of Social
Work. 39(4): 754-767.
• Yoon, H. (2014) Lessons from Digital
Switchover in South Korea. Television & New
Media. 15(6): 538- 550.

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