ONS measures of well-being must reflect how internet access fundamentally underpins them all
By Martha Lane Fox
The ONS recently closed its consultation on the domains and measures that should be included to measure people’s feelings of wellbeing. I was alarmed to see that no reference had been made to digital capabilities within the entire piece.
Here’s what I wrote to David Halpern, Jil Matheson and Paul Allin, leading the consultation:
Dear David, Jil and Paul ,
Assessing UK progress against feelings of well-being affords a powerful opportunity to get a clear view of their fundamental underpinning by digital capability. With this information, government and charities can better understand both the opportunities of strong digital capability and the effects where it lacks, more strategically supporting the push toward Race Online 2012’s stated objective of a fully networked nation.
As UK Digital Champion and founder of Race Online 2012 I am greatly concerned that no mention of digital capability is made in the conceptual framework’s domains to directly measure subjective individual well-being. The ability to access and use the Internet and the digital products and services therein influences every domain: our social and family life, our financial situation and material living standards, our health, education and work – both what job we get and how satisfied we are with it – our ability to forge new communities and involve ourselves in our neighbourhoods. Specifically:
Relationships:
3.1 million over-65-year-olds in the UK don’t see a family, friend or neighbour even once a week (Participle.net)
51% of over 75 year olds live alone and just over 1 million (11%) aged 65 and over say they always or often feel lonely (Agenda for Later Life, Age UK 2011)
Internet access enables closer and more regular contact with friends and family, decreasing feelings of isolation and loneliness (Journal of Applied Gerontology (1999) and Journal of Instructional Psychology (1994)
96% of Internet users say the Internet has improved their life (UK online centres, Nov 2010)
The Internet has a direct positive impact on life satisfaction (The Information Dividend, BCS, September 2010)
Health:
39% of people aged 65 and over are estimated to have a disability (ONS)
Around half of those offline in the UK have a disability (ONS)
Mobility barriers are eased by online shopping, communication, travel-booking, banking and bill-payment
Internet users feel less concerned about health issues (Freshminds Research, 2009)
What we do:
Internet users report higher levels of happiness, self-confidence and overall quality of life than non-users (Freshminds Research, UK Online Centres, 2009)
Internet access enables lifelong learning opportunities, more choice and control of healthcare options and personal care budgets
Where we live:
HomeSwap Direct is a government scheme designed to increase the mobility of social housing tenants. HomeSwap can only be accessed online (Department for Communities and Local Government)
Personal finance:
Shopping and paying bills online saves the average household £560 per year (The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion, PwC)
People in 3.6 million low income and digitally excluded households (9% of UK adults) could be saving over £1 billion per year (The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion, PwC)
Education and skills:
Children in homes with Internet access achieve 2 grades higher (e-Learning Foundation, May 2011)
If the 1.6 million children in families not using the Internet got online at home, it could boost their total lifetime earnings by over £10 billion (The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion, PwC)
Internet users are 25% more confident of their skills to get a new job (Freshminds Research, 2009)
Estimated lifetime benefit of £12,000 for unemployed people getting online and increasing employment chances (The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion, PwC)
People with good ICT skills earn between 3% and 10% more than people without (The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion, PwC)
Digitally excluded employed people would increase their earnings by an average of over £8,300 in their lifetime by getting online (The Economic Case for Digital Inclusion, PwC)
Also relating to the contextual domain of governance, political voice is contingent on digital skills – we now express ourselves politically online and this will continue to be an area of rapid development. Furthermore, the proposed ONS Opinions Survey on subjective well-being are also intrinsically connected to digital capability, as above: personal relationships; physical health; mental well-being; employment; personal finance; locality; adequate time to do things you like doing; the well-being of your children.
I look forward to your thoughts.
Yours faithfully
Martha Lane Fox
UK Digital Champion
