Internet Literacy: Levels of Literacy Among Selected Filipinos Across Economic Classes

Abstract

This research probed into the way the Internet had affected the rich and the poor, the young and the old. It investigated selected groups’ initiation into the Internet and how the technology was acquired, appreciated, given meaning and interpretation.

Using the Social Construction of Technology Theory, the study revealed that the impact of the Internet on the informants depended on various literacy states where they were located, i.e., Awareness and Acquisition State, the Interpretive State and the Critical State.  Key informant interviews and focus group discussions, found that economic standing and age were not factors in reaching the different states of Internet literacy. The comparative study on the acquisition, interpretation and critical regard on the Internet provided insights on the role it played in changing the ways the informants communicate and relate with one another and how they construct meanings and identities reflected in their experiences and ability to adapt and reinvent the technology as appropriate to their particular circumstances.