Analysis of Disparity of Key Demographic Factors on Broadband Technology Usage among Teenagers: Gender as Prime Focus

Abstract

Aims: Broadband internet and broadband-enabled devices have been considered as alternative approaches to increase the productivity of teenagers in their respective schools. However, there is less or no research that establishes interference of some required factors for usage of broadband technology on the teenagers’ gender. Therefore, the study presents the disparity in the usage of broadband technology among teenagers together with the interference on their gender brought by some factors. Study Design: The research used simple random sampling approach which gave equal chances of selection to the participants. Place and Duration of Study: This research engaged teenagers who are secondary school students in Kedah state of the northern region of Malaysia as the unit of analysis, due to their ability to provide facts on the internet related issues. Methodology: A comparative design approach in an experimental form is chosen to observe the extent of interference of some demographic factors on the gender of teenage users of broadband technology. Over 400 teenagers were invited to four different internet centres and 373 participants were selected from the invitees. Results: The study showed that teenagers’ educational level, living locations, family sizes and their parents’ jobs are the factors to measure the disparity created by the gender of teenagers while using broadband technology. Hence, upper hands are with the teenagers who are female over the male’s counterparts in terms of usage of broadband technology as brought by the highlighted factors. Conclusion: Study on the disparity of broadband technology usage by gender could assist the broadband internet service providers to further understand the factors that foster differences in the gender of teenage users of their services. This will be further studied by focusing on the approach to bridge the created gaps between the gender of users of broadband technology among teenagers.