Young users and the digital divide: readers, participants or creators on Internet?

Abstract

This article analyses how young people, parents and teachers perceive the uses of digital tools and environments made by those known as digital natives. The research combines analysis of an extensive bibliography on the subject with the results of field research based on 30 focus groups, involving 120 youngsters and 60 adults in five Spanish cities, within the framework of a national study. The results show that while adults consider that young people use technological tools in complex ways directed towards content creation, teenagers perceive themselves as mainly readers and participants on the Net.