Drawing the net: internet identification, internet use, and the image of internet users

Theory and research suggest that Internet identification may account for some of the gender divide in Internet use. Internet identification is a type of domain identification, and is inherently bound with images of those who use the Internet, a domain traditionally conceived as masculine. Combining the “draw an Internet user” test with an Internet identification scale, this study tests two hypotheses: participants drawing gender-concordant images will (i) identify with and (ii) use the Internet more than those drawing gender-discordant images. Participants were 371 students (121 males, 250 females) from three universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. The need to challenge masculinized images of the Internet is discussed.

The relationship between internet identification, internet anxiety and internet use

This paper reports a study investigating the relationship between Internet identification, Internet anxiety and Internet use. The participants were 446 students (319 females and 127 males) from two universities in the UK and one university in Australia. Measures of Internet identification and Internet anxiety were developed. The majority of participants were NOT anxious about using the Internet, although there were approximately 8% who showed evidence of Internet anxiety. There was a significant and negative relationship between Internet anxiety and Internet use. Those who were more anxious about using the Internet used the Internet less, although the magnitude of effect was small. There was a positive and significant relationship between Internet use and Internet identification. Those who scored high on the measure of Internet identification used the Internet more than those who did not. There was also a significant and negative relationship between Internet anxiety and Internet identification. Finally, males had a significantly higher Internet identification score than females. Implications of these findings are discussed.