www.donau-uni.ac.at/cedem

1. Understanding of Smartphone Divide:
from digital divide to digital inclusion in
the smartphone era
Dal Yong Jin
Simon Fraser University

2. Understanding the Digital Divide
• The digital divide as one of the most significant agendas
• Two major problems in the discourse of the digital divide:
- inequalities in material access to technologies
- inequalities in the skills to use ICT efficiently (Selwyn 2004)
• A bipolar division cannot explain the multiplicity of recent dynamics

3. Digital Divide as a Social Issue
• The digital divide as a serious social issue in the smartphone era
• Policymakers and ICT experts - smartphones bridge the digital divide,
but the smartphone has not become the solution
- people do not benefit from smartphones because of soaring
subscription fees or a lack of skills
- cannot subscribe to expensive smartphone services, nor access several
value-added applications

4. Emergence of the Smartphone Divide
• The digital divide has remained worrisome because of
smartphones’ huge potential
• Simply focusing on access or skill ignores a smartphone’s
capabilities to perpetuate inequalities
• The discussions on the digital divide should be rather nuanced,
reflecting diverse standards for measuring disparities
• Need for newly developed conceptual frames in the smartphone
era

5. Discussion Topics
• Analyzes the digital divide pertinent to smartphone
technologies
• Contextualizes the digital divide beyond statistical
measurements
• Suggests a shift of emphasis, from a traditional
understanding of the divide to a dual divide

6. Methodologies
• A historical approach contextualizing the growth of the
smartphone and relevant sociocultural issues
• Survey research on people’s consciousness of smartphones
conducted in Dec. 2014
• A total of 1,000 mobile users were interviewed; respondents were
19 years of age or older, and 49.5% were male and 50.5% female
- 81.8% had a smartphone, while 18.2% did not

7. A Dual Digital Divide in the Smartphone Era
• A smartphone gap leads to a dual digital divide:
1) an intergroup divide between smartphone users and nonusers
2) an intragroup divide among smartphone users caused by differences
in skill levels
• An intragroup smartphone divide arises between users who use limited
functions and users who use a diverse set of applications
• A new smartphone divide is created based on a user’s ability to access
and use an array of different services

8. Monthly household expenditures on
communications in OECD (Unit: US Dollars)
100.1
66.5
115.5
77.4
59.0
77.1
61.5
43.8
52.0
40.3 37.8
43.6
7.5
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
120.0
140.0
fixed mobile Internet

9. Mobile-based Divide in Korea, 2013 (Unit: %)
Disabled Low Income
Farmers
/Fishermen
The Elderly Total
Mobile Access 53.5 74 48 55.8 57.5
Mobile Skills 37.2 58.9 31.1 30.7 36.2
Mobile Use 35.8 59.9 29.2 32.1 36.8
Total 41.8 63.8 35.7 38.8 42.9

10. The First-tier Divide
• Between those who have smartphones and those who do not
have
smartphones
• The simple linear divide will disappear in a few years
• The dual digital divide in the smartphone is more systematic than
access to the Internet because of value-added services
• Users subscribe to the cutting-edge service- people do not enjoy
significant services that others have access to due to high cost

11. Categories Samples Yes No Total
Total 1,000 81.8 18.2 100
Education
Elementary 50 18 82 100
Middle School 95 35.8 64.2 100
High School 474 86.7 13.3 100
University 367 95.6 4.4 100
Graduate School 14 92.9 7.1 100
Job
Management 9 77.8 22.2 100
Professional 42 90.5 9.5 100
Office Worker 184 98.4 1.6 100
Retail/Service 168 95.2 4.8 100
Mechanic 43 74.4 25.6 100
Simple labor 34 47.1 52.9 100
Agriculture/Fishing
/Forestry
22 45.5 54.5 100
Housewife 204 66.7 33.3 100
Students 67 98.5 1.5 100
Retired/no Job 37 43.2 56.8 100

12. The Second-tier Divide: the quality of use
• This systematic digital divide combines with the divide
stemming from the quality of use - the second divide
• The second-tier divide is outlined according to a few
variables
- skills, abilities, problem-solving abilities, and empowerment
• The digital divide creates more complicated and multifaceted
consequences than the Internet divide

13. The Second-tier Divide…
• 30% of mobile subscribers used feature phones as of Sept.
2014 -10% of smartphone subscribers used MVNOs
• MVNOs offer cheaper plans up to 50% and services with
limited calling time, number of messages, and data
• MVNO subscribers have increased, so the divide among
smartphone users has been intensifying

14. The Most Significant Factor in Selecting Smartphone
Service Plan (Unit: %)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Subscription Fees Convenience Data Size Design Others
50.4
24.9
12.5 11.2
1

15. Sociocultural Interpretations of the Digital
Divide in the Smartphone Era…
• 62.3% responded that they were overwhelmed by current
subscription fees
• The age group 19-29 felt the most pressured (52.5%), while 44.6%
of those above 60 felt some burden
• The notion of a digital divide implies a chain of causality
- the lack of access to computers harms life chances- those who are
already marginalized will have fewer opportunities to access and
use the smartphone

16. Digital Inclusion in the Smartphone Era
• Public policy resolving imminent issues, including the enhancement of
both mobile skills and mobile use among social minorities
- individuals can participate in society and control their own destinies,
taking into account a variety of factors related to economic resources
• Not only an adequate sharing of resources, but also participation in the
determination of individual life chances (Stewart 2000)
• Digital inclusion emphasizes policy intervention to reduce digital
inequalities and to foster participation of all citizens to the information
society

17. Digital Inclusion in the Smartphone Era: Policy
Perspectives…
• A greater understanding of the contexts of inequality, beyond
single factors such as access or diffusion, is imperative
• One of the most significant considerations is to understand the
ways in which to enhance the quality of smartphone use
• Without resolving the disparity in sociocultural issues, it is difficult
to overcome the digital exclusion
• The increasing use of smartphones has intensified inequalities in
participation

18. Conclusion
• The emergence of the dual divide:
1) the divide between the smartphone haves and the smartphone have-nots
2) the divide among the smartphone haves
• The digital divide has become a new form of digital exclusion and is further
marginalizing already oppressed and disenfranchised individuals
• It is vital to develop policy initiatives to extend our perspectives toward digital
inclusion
• Since they are informed citizens with new media, it is imperative for people to
use their smartphones to participate in major policy decision processes