Trends and Friends: Access, use and benefits of digital technology for homeless and ex-homeless people
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3. <strong>Access</strong> <strong>and</strong> usage<br />
On the whole, respondents who had access to the internet spent a significant amount <strong>of</strong> time<br />
online, with 42% spending between 1 <strong>and</strong> 3 hours online at a time, in line with the national<br />
averages. The usage rates <strong>of</strong> Lemos&Crane respondents are displayed in Table 4.<br />
Table 4: Time online<br />
Usage per day No. %<br />
>8 6 4%<br />
5 < 8 Hours 8 5%<br />
3 < 5 Hours 15 10%<br />
1 < 3 Hours 65 42%<br />
Up to 1 Hour 38 25%<br />
No reponse 21 14%<br />
Time spent online by both groups was similar, although more <strong>people</strong> went online <strong>for</strong> up to an<br />
hour among the Groundswell respondents than in the Lemos&Crane group. There was a<br />
marked age effect in the Groundswell group – a third <strong>of</strong> respondents aged up to 30 said they<br />
spent more than 8 hours online a day. Seventeen per cent <strong>of</strong> this age group said they spent up<br />
to an hour online. The opposite was true <strong>for</strong> those over 30. A third said they spent up to an<br />
hour online, <strong>and</strong> just two said they spent over 8 hours online. The overall usage rates <strong>of</strong><br />
Groundswell respondents are displayed in Table 5.<br />
Table 5: Time online<br />
Usage per day No. %<br />
>8 10 8%<br />
5 < 8 Hours 10 8%<br />
3 < 5 Hours 16 13%<br />
1 < 3 Hours 31 25%<br />
Up to 1 Hour 54 44%<br />
No reponse 2 2%<br />
Ofcom reported in 2014 that the average time spent per month browsing online to be one<strong>and</strong>-<br />
a-half hours per day (this <strong>ex</strong>cludes time spent accessing other media such as audio or<br />
video content, which was included by our respondents). 13 Comparing the time respondents<br />
said they spent online to the amount <strong>of</strong> online activities they said they participated in, it<br />
seems likely that some respondents underestimated or understated the amount <strong>of</strong> time they<br />
spent online.<br />
Skills, confidence <strong>and</strong> training<br />
Those respondents who made at least occasional <strong>use</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> <strong>technology</strong> considered<br />
themselves to have passable skills or better. The majority rated their abilities as at least<br />
‘average’, ranging up to ‘<strong>ex</strong>pert’, although 14% said they had no skills at all. 14<br />
13<br />
Ofcom Media facts <strong>and</strong> figures, available at http://media.<strong>of</strong>com.org.uk/files/2014/facts-figures-table.pdf<br />
(Last accessed 1 December 2014)<br />
14<br />
Respondents answered in free t<strong>ex</strong>t, which were then grouped in categories.<br />
21
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