Internet access

With the advent of digital communications, in the last 10-15 years the ‘information landscape’ (Appadurai, 1986) and information use have been transformed beyond all recognition. According to the Office of National Statistics, between August and October 2005, 64% of adults in the UK, 29 million people, had accessed the internet to perform a variety of tasks including searching, emailing, buying goods, file sharing and taking part in online discussions.

The 2002 statistics for household computer ownership and home internet access, 54% and 44%, show the degree to which ICTs had diffused through British society at a time when the broadband roll-out and wireless technology were still at an early stage. As the 2005 figures suggest, with 86% of individuals accessing the internet at home, the 2002 figures are likely to be well below their current levels.

Convergent technologies

To focus on computers and home internet access alone would not convey the full picture. The ubiquity of devices like mobile phones, games consoles, PDAs and MP3 players, which take advantage of convergent technologies across telecommunications (phone calls, SMS, video and picture-messaging, Bluetooth, etc.) broadcasting (digital radio, mobile television, pod-casting, ring-tones, iTunes, etc.) and software design (with new compression techniques enabling a wider range of devices to handle larger amounts of information), means that more people own, and are familiar with, ICTs than some statistical measures allow.

Elderly internet users

Ownership of and familiarity with ICTS are more widely distributed than is often perceived to be the case. Although older people are less likely to own and use new technologies, the Office of National Statistics reports that in 2002, 30% of men and 20% of women over the age of 80 owned mobile phones, and that 10% of men and 5% of women over the age of 80 had accessed the internet in the period August-October of that year.

The 2005 survey showed that the elderly were also using the internet in complex ways, with 41% of those over the age of 65% who had used the internet, using it to buy goods online. In an area of constant change prediction is always difficult, if not foolhardy, but it seems likely that the rate of innovation, and the rate of diffusion through all parts of British society, will continue to remain high.

Source - Kierans C, Mair M, “Assessing the effectiveness of new health information and communication technology in providing support to patients with breast cancer receiving treatment with Liverpool NHS" 2006. | Download