Psychological, cultural and socio-structural factors associated with digital immersion in Chilean adolescents

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, adolescents grow up in environments where many aspects of their lives are mediated by digital technologies. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of psychological, cultural and socio-structural factors in the level of digital immersion in adolescents from southern Chile. A non-probabilistic sample of 469 adolescents was collected from schools with different socioeconomic backgrounds. A multigroup analysis was performed using structural equations modelling. The results indicate that family income moderate digital immersion model. Furthermore, for low-income and middle-to-high-income students, the attitude towards the use of digital technologies was the most important factor to predict digital immersion, followed by motivation. However, the results indicate differences between groups by family income in the following model’s path: from navigation skills to social skills; motivation to satisfaction; self-transcendence value to social skills; and attitude towards the use of technology to motivation. This study provided an opportunity to move forward in the understanding of the relationship between Chilean adolescents and their technology use. These results indicate the existence of deep cultural changes in Chilean adolescents’ life, which are strongly marked by the profuse use of digital technologies.

IMPACT SUMMARY

a. Prior State of Knowledge:

The use of digital technologies has been studied in different contexts, considering diverse population, but adolescents’ immersion in digital technologies has not been addressed in the Chilean context. This lack of knowledge might affect a deeper understanding of technology use.

b. Novel Contributions:

The current study addresses and proposes a new definition of adolescents’ digital immersion taking into consideration psychological, cultural and socio-structural factors, allowing a more integrated, and empirically based, approach to the phenomenon.

c. Practical Implications:

As the use of digital technologies occurs in a complex ecosystem, the findings reached in this study represent relevant data for policy makers, in order to define and promote digital immersion in Chilean adolescents, and other similar contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital immersion
• adolescents
• digital skills
• multigroup analysis
• Chile

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the teachers, administrators, and students at the participating secondary schools and to Carolina Cardenas for proofreading this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico [Chile. Fondecyt Regular N°1191193]; CONICYT-PCHA/ National Doctorate grant No.2014-21140626 [CONICYT-PCHA/ National Doctorate grant No.2014-211].

Notes on contributors

Miriam León

Miriam León, PsyD, is an Adjunct Instructor at the Department of Education, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile and School of Psychology, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Chile. Her current research involves digital immersion, with a special focus on adolescents, and the different purposes of digital technology use in initial teacher education. Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Lucio Rehbein

Lucio Rehbein, PhD, is a Full Professor of Psychology at Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. His research areas include technology enhanced learning, ICT in Education, metacognition and cultural studies. His current research focuses on the field of Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Science and Cognitive Psychology. His most recent publication is titled “Mitigating Simulator Adaptation Syndrome by Means of Tactile Stimulation”. Email: [email protected]

Christian Labbé

Christian Labbé, PhD, is a Researcher at the Institute of ICT in Education, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. His research interest is focused on understanding the effects of ICT use in teachers and students, specifically on teaching and learning processes, teachers’ and students’ digital competencies and ICT in education policies. Email: [email protected]

Alexander J. A. M. Van Deursen

Alexander J. A. M. Van Deursen, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Media, Communication and Organization, University of Twente in the Netherlands. His research focuses on digital inequality with specific attention to Internet skills. He consults public agencies on how to improve their service delivery by accounting for differences in Internet use. Email: [email protected]

Cristian Cerda

Cristian Cerda, Dr., is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. His research interest covers the role of non-cognitive factor as self-directed learning and academic tenacity in the use of digital technologies for academic purposes to build disciplinary and pedagogical knowledge in initial teacher education. Email: [email protected]