Home as the Next Technological Frontier?
by Alladi Venkatesh

Background

The recent issue of The Economist (July 29, 2006) carried an article celebrating “The PC’s 25th birthday.” This is indeed a milestone. The first PCs came into American households in the early 1980’s, around the same time we began our own research in this area. We have continued to follow the technological trends on the home front during the last two decades. Some of the major themes in our research are computerization of home-based activities, time allocation patterns, virtualization of the domestic sphere and impact on family life, and gender and youth roles.

Although the 1980s heralded the entry of computers into American homes, it was not until the mid-1990s that the so-called “revolution” was set in motion. At the center of this dramatic shift was the Internet. Before the Internet era, only 15% of American households owned computers. Today that number is close to 70%. Although the Internet is not as widely adopted as telephones (96%) or refrigerators (99%) or even automobiles (85%), there is no question about how pervasive it has become.

From The Pre-Internet Era to the Internet Era

While we acknowledge that the Internet is providing the technological energy behind many changes we are witnessing, for a better understanding of this phenomenon, we have developed some scenarios around its emergence and growth. The preceding quarter century can be divided into four periods:

• Pre-Internet period (1980s – early 1990s)
• Early Internet period (Mid 1990s – 1999)
• Internet period (2000-2005)
• Post-Internet period (2006+)*
  
  *We anticipate a major push in the Post-Internet period due to Internet 2.0.

These scenarios are illustrated below in Table 1:

Table 1: Home as Virtual Space

The Pre-Internet period is characterized as a period of slow growth. This is mainly because the majority of users did not have the technical expertise to fully exploit the technology. Additionally, the technology itself was not well developed and no networking capability was available for home communication and information access.

With the arrival of the Internet (Periods 2 - 4 in the table) and home networking potential, the landscape changed significantly. Computer use in the home increased dramatically, and the characteristics of the “home” as we have understood it are undergoing rapid change.

The Internet has become Indispensable

Below are results from our recent surveys in 2000 and 2003.

In 2000, 77 % of computer-owning households reported having an Internet connection in the home; by 2003, this figure had jumped to 94%. This supports other survey results, which suggest that the Internet is now ubiquitous. Both the 2000 and 2003 samples acknowledged the Internet to be a major source of communication and information.

The table below illustrates recent results from surveys of the different types of Household Internet Uses in 2000 and 2003.

Household Internet Use 2003 and 2000

The top applications are Email, Games and Hobbies, News and Information, Travel and Vacation planning, Online shopping, and seeking Health Information. The biggest changes from 2000 to 2003 are in Online Shopping (40% to 76%), Online Banking and Finance (30% to 60%) News/Information gathering (58% to 80%), gathering Health Information (46% to 76%) and Travel/Vacation planning (55% to 78%).

The decrease in use for School and Educational purposes is perhaps because the schools are better equipped to serve student needs compared to before. There have been totally new uses reported by the households from 2000 to 2003, such as Instant Messaging, Home management, Government services and Community activities.

We also examined the impact of the computer on people’s lives, as the computer has become virtually indistinguishable from the Internet for many people. The change from 2000 to 2003 in perceptions of computers can be interpreted, in part, as due to the increase in home Internet connectivity mentioned above.

From 2000 to 2003, more people reported that computers had become part of their daily routine (52% to 62%); facilitated increased contact with friends and relatives via email (48% to 54%); changed how they do things at home (40% to 45%); and replaced the telephone as the major communication device (10% to 16%). In somewhat broader terms, over this three year period, more people reported that it would be difficult to imagine life at home without computers (44% to 50%), and that the computer is as essential as any other household appliance (39% to 51%).

Taken as a whole, these results reveal some important developments in terms of Internet use. The usage patterns suggest both changes in the inherent characteristics of the Internet as well as the diffusion of Internet use into new areas. The Internet continues to be an information and communication tool, but the types of information sought on the computer have expanded considerably. The Internet has also become a major home management tool as it is now used extensively for online shopping and financial management. The Internet is becoming indispensable to many daily activities.

The Technology is becoming Domesticated

Computers and the Internet are being used to manage various household activities by family members, such as the finances, event planning, communication, etc. One consequence of this is that patterns of use change as families transition from one life-cycle stage to the other. The different stages might include being single, married or with a partner, married with children, the empty nest, or being a senior.

Gender and Generational Dynamics

Additionally, there are both gender and generational dynamics. For example, in households where women are present, they typically act as managers of the household and are the primary users of computers at home. We have recently seen a reversal in the gender gap in computer use at home. Recent data show that women 18 years and older have surpassed men in the use of the computer at home.

A second development is the intense involvement of children, a development that we did not foresee in the 1980s. While children in a technological environment have traditionally been viewed as passive participants, the reverse is now true. Research shows that children are truly at the helm when it comes to technology use and are indeed shaping technology while technology is also shaping them. This is the first time that children have outperformed adults in their use of advanced technology.

This intense involvement of children has lead to an outcome of children not only as primary users, but as experts in the use of technology. This is what is being examined in our new initiative, the Y-Tech (Youth and Technologies) project. The younger users and children are indeed the true innovators of technologies.

The Virtual Home

Our approach to digitalization is one of introducing sensible technologies for home use for specialized applications. One example of this is illustrated in the Family Portal, which is the focus of another article in this issue.

Mention must be made of an emerging perspective that regards the home as an intelligent environment with computer-controlled lighting, security, heating and air conditioning, and with robots and talking machines. Our studies show that American households are cautious about these new developments, and they are not yet ready to embrace such “smart” technologies`.

What Does the Future Hold?

The technological advancements we have experienced with home computing these last two decades have been historically profound and comparable to other major developments in the past. The emergence of the Internet and networking capabilities has changed the home computing landscape. If we add to this multi-media and mobile technologies and the rapid globalization, the changes can be even more dramatic.