Internet use that reproduces educational inequalities: Evidence from big data

Abstract

Although the Internet has become ubiquitous in students' lives in school and at home, little is known about whether the Internet is used to close or reproduce educational inequalities. Drawing upon Bourdieu's notion of capital, there are two kinds of Internet use: capital-enhancing versus entertainment. This study used two big data analytic tools to examine interest in and usage of two highly popular websites that primarily target children and adolescents: KhanAcademy.org and CartoonNetwork.com. The former represents a capital-enhancing use of the Internet, while the latter represents an Internet use for entertainment. Data analysis revealed that high sociodemographic status was positively correlated with interest in Khan Academy, while low sociodemographic status was positively correlated with interest in Cartoon Network. This study provided some evidence that existing educational inequalities may be reproduced through unequal Internet use.