Digital Inequality: Disadvantaged Young People Experience Higher Barriers to Digital Engagement

Britain is rapidly digitising, increasing opportunities across a wide range of areas in our everyday lives, from interacting, to being informed and to undertaking transactions more rapidly and at lower cost. Yet, both academic and policy research show that the benefits achieved from digital engagement are not distributed equally. Dr. Ellen Helsper, an expert on digital inequality and Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE, presented the findings of a study commissioned by the Prince’s Trust that looked into the socio-digital skills of young people and the relationship these have to their general well-being. The accompanying report, “Slipping through the Net”, is launched in Parliament today.