Study: The link between information and communication technology use and literacy skills

Canada's digital divide (the gap in computer and Internet use between lower- and upper-income individuals) is well-documented.

However, a new study has found that this digital divide is compounded by the fact that people who do not have access to computers also have significantly lower literacy skills than computer users.

Furthermore, only 3 out of every 10 people (29%) in Canada who had not used computers stated they were interested in starting to use one in the following year.

This has significant consequences, because people with the lowest skills, who potentially stand to benefit most from the opportunities created by new technologies, are not using them. This is particularly the case with the Internet, where potential benefits include access to health and government services, employment information, shopping and other services.

The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, conducted in 2003, confirmed a strong association between literacy and the use of computers and the Internet, as well as attitudes toward computers.

Among Canadian adults aged 16 to 65, about 9 million, or 42% scored below Level 3 in prose literacy — the desired threshold for coping with the increasing skill demands of a knowledge society.

The survey tested more than 23,000 Canadians on their proficiency in four domains: prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy and problem-solving. The survey also included an information and communications technology (ICT) module which captured detailed information on connectivity rates, use of ICTs and attitudes toward computers.

Other nations included in this study were Bermuda, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United States.

The study found that as literacy skill levels rose, other factors also rose, such as the perceived usefulness of computers, diversity and intensity of Internet use, and use of computers for task-oriented purposes. This occurred even when other factors having an impact on computer use were taken into account, such as age, income and education levels.

In most countries, for example, respondents with medium to high prose literacy skills had about two to three times the odds of being a high-intensity computer user, compared to those with below average literacy skills. Conversely, those without access to ICTs also tended to have lower literacy levels than the rest of the population.

In addition, people who used computers, and had higher literacy rates, were far more likely to have higher incomes.

In most countries, adults with medium or higher literacy skills and high-intensity computer use had about four to six times the odds of being in the top income group, compared to those with low literacy and low-to-medium intensity computer use.

Attitudes and intensity of ICT use also varied from region to region. Residents of the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario typically met or exceeded the national average in their use of computers, the Internet, and attitudes toward computers.

Coincidentally, the survey also found that residents of the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan had average scores significantly higher than the national average in all literacy domains.

Four out of every 10 Canadians aged 16 to 25 (43%) used computers at home for an average of at least one hour per day, according to the survey. Computer use declined with age, with a particularly sharp drop after age 55.

Heavy computer use is emerging as a North American phenomenon. Canadian and American adults were twice as likely as adults in the other countries studied to use computers at home for an average of two hours per day or more.

The study also found that men were more likely than women to use computers for a range of tasks in the European countries included in this study (Italy, Norway, and Switzerland). However, no such gender gap existed in Canada, the United States, or Bermuda.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 4406.

The new issue of the Connectedness series, Literacy and Digital Technologies: Linkages and Outcomes, no. 12 (56F0004MIE2005012, free) is now available online. From the Our products and services page, under Browse our Internet publications, choose Free, then Communications.

Based on work published in Chapter 8 of the Statistics Canada and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report, Learning a Living: First Results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (89-603-XWE, free) released on May 11, 2005, as well as the national report released on Nov. 30, Building on Our Competencies: Canadian Results of the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (89-617-XIE, free), this study offers more detailed analysis, including some variables not covered in the earlier reports.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods, or data quality of this release, contact Ben Veenhof (613-951-5067; ben.veenhof@statcan.gc.ca), Science, Innovation and Electronic Information Division.