The Internet and Your Mom

I found a 2004 study on internet use in South Korea which showed that the most important factor determining whether or not a South Korean person used the internet was not their wealth, gender, or even age, but whether or not their family members use the internet. While this seems surprising at first, upon further consideration I believe this is actually a very logical outcome. The family, especially in Korea, is one of the most critical subgroups of society and can have enormous influence on the behavior of its individual members. Internet usage by a family member can encourage use by other family members in a variety of ways.

The family is characterized by many mechanisms by which to spread internet adoption. The first is easy access to expertise, in the form of parents being able to ask their children to show them how it works. Consider a family in which the eldest child, a teenager, is a frequent internet user. Seeing their sibling using the internet, younger childer in the family will naturally become interested, and then of course the parents will want to see what all their children are looking at. If the children can show the parents and even grandparents something interesting to them on the internet (the news, the weather, etc.) then there is a good chance that the parents and grandparents will want to use the internet again. As long as the children are willing to help their elders learn how to use the internet, or the parents can find help elsewhere, they are able to become frequent users themselves.

Having a source of free, easily accessible technical support (the kids) is a simple way to encourage the adoption of new, unfamiliar technology. In addition, if one family member is using the internet in the home, that means that the technology itself is easily accessible and can be used whenever desired. Once family members start using the internet more often, the family acts as a unit of social support for other family members. The internet becomes a integral part of the family's daily operations as both generations come to rely on it (Kid: "How do we get to the movie theater again?" Mom: "Google it.").

So although I was surprised at first that this study, unlike so many others, didn't conclude that youth is the main factor dictating internet adoption, I believe that the results of the study make sense. The more the people you are surrounded with on daily basis - and whose opinions you likely value the most - support a certain activity, the more likely you are to partake in that activity. I think this conclusion actually makes more sense than those which just say that kids use the internet and don't really explain why (beyond "that's what kids do"). I think without some level of support from parents (even if it's only financial - paying for internet access) youth could not have become as technology savvy and dependent as we are today.