Survey finds web usage gap between Israeli sectors
Study shows Internet usage is lower among religious, poor sectors; according to results, Arab-speakers read more news online than Hebrew users
A survey on Internet usage in Israel indicates the existence of a digital divide, which is reflected not only in the numbers of those actually connected to the Internet, but also in the way that surfers with different incomes and different backgrounds make use of it.
According to the survey, titled “Israel in the Digital Age 2012," the more religious the sector, the less connected it is to the Internet; just 7.7% of the secular public is not connected at all to the Internet, compared with 58% of the ultra-Orthodox public.
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A prominent gap has registered between citizens earning varied incomes as well; nearly 85% of Israeli citizens whose income is above average are connected to the Internet, compared to 55% of those whose income is lower than average. Over 90% of the higher-income citizens who have an Internet connection surf the web every day, compared to 75% in the lower-income sector.
Shifting focus back to minorities, less than 60% of Israeli Arabs are connected to the Internet, in contrast to 70% of older Jews and 75% of Jewish immigrants.
Arabic-speaking Internet users indicated that they visit news sites about triple (40%) those whose native language is Hebrew (13%).
Haredim watch more videos online
The Google-funded study surveyed a 1,200-person sample that incorporated various segments of the population, including children (ages 12-14), teens (ages 15-17), the utra-Orthodox, Arabs and new immigrants.
The results of the study, which was led by Dr. Yuval Dror, head of the Digital Marketing Track at the College of Management's School of Media Studies, were unveiled recently at the college.
Other noteworthy findings include the fact that users aged 15-24 spend about a fifth of their time surfing the Internet on their mobile phones, and that approximately 73% of users aged 15-17 use a social network every day. In contrast, one of every 10 users aged 65 and older use a social network each day.
More than half of Internet users in Israel participate in a social networking service at least once a week. The higher the education level of the respondents, the less likely the daily use of social networks.
Roughly three quarters of Israeli web surfers watch videos on the Internet – and the practice is more prevalent within the ultra-Orthodox public; 81% of haredi web surfers watch clips online, compared to 73% of the secular public. The Jewish public watch videos over the Internet more than the Arab population (76% vs. 63% respectively).
