The Censis released at the end of last week the 55th Report on the Social Situation of the Country / 2021: in the chapter dedicated to the “Good and bad of the Internet”, the research institute provides data on the use of digital devices and online behavior by people.
More than one in two Italians recognizes how, during the emergency, the digital technologies allowed them to provide for their own needs (58.6%), to maintain social relationships (55.3%) and to continue to work or study (55.2%).
61.3% of those who declare a medium-high economic condition during the pandemic he believes that digital technologies have made it possible to provide for their own needs, against 53.8% of Italians with a medium-low economic level.
The range widens further when the function of digital devices as useful tools to maintain interpersonal relationships. Among the wealthiest, the percentage stands at 64.4%, while among the less well-off it drops to 51.8%. Furthermore, 64.2% of the wealthiest Italians believe that digital devices have helped to preserve study and work activities, but the percentage is reduced to 50.3% among the less wealthy.
Then there is the knot of skills, first of all the basic IT ones, which allow you to use both digital devices and applications without problems. Which still represents a selective factor in the use or not. The most popular activity online is the search for information on companies, products and services, since it confirms, if necessary, the relevance of the optimization of the contents of its site (respecting the Seo language) and, if necessary, of the search engine marketing, or pay-per-click as you prefer.
At the top of the ranking of inequality based on educational qualifications is home banking: people with a low educational qualification (up to middle school) who they manage the current account online are 30.3%, compared to 60.1% of graduates and graduates. More generally, all the online activities considered by Censis show a large gap depending on the level of education.
It is not surprising that in the period in which the Italians, and the rest of the world, were subject to severe movement restrictions, booking travel is a relatively marginal activity, carried out only by less than 11% of people, it is surprising instead that less than 10% use the Net to look for work.
On the other hand, the growing relevance of ecommerce, with more than half of Italians (51.6%) claiming to have made online purchases in the last 30 days. Also in this case there are profound differences according to the level of education. In any case, it is a phenomenon that is already heavily affecting retail, and that could have a socio-economic impact that is far from negligible in general on society in our country.
In the end, online training does not take off: in the year of distance learning, less than a fifth of people (19.2%) attended school, university or post experience training courses. The gap according to schooling is once again strong, as shown by the summary infographic of the results of the 55th Censis 2021 Report.
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