"Connecting" and "Disconnecting" With Civic Life: Patterns of Internet Use and the Production of Social Capital

TLDR

The study discusses potential life cycle and cohort effects on social capital production. The article investigates how different types of Internet use influence civic engagement, interpersonal trust, and life contentment. Using the 1999 DDB Life Style Study, the authors analyze the predictive power of new media use relative to demographics, context, and traditional media, distinguishing Internet use types through a motivational perspective. Informational Internet use is positively associated with social capital production, whereas social‑recreational use is negatively associated; these effects vary by generation, with Generation X linked to Internet use, Baby Boomers to television, and the Civic Generation to newspapers.

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between Internet use and the individual-level production of social capital. To do so, the authors adopt a motivational perspective to distinguish among types of Internet use when examining the factors predicting civic engagement, interpersonal trust, and life contentment. The predictive power of new media use is then analyzed relative to key demographic, contextual, and traditional media use variables using the 1999 DDB Life Style Study. Although the size of associations is generally small, the data suggest that informational uses of the Internet are positively related to individual differences in the production of social capital, whereas social-recreational uses are negatively related to these civic indicators. Analyses within subsamples defined by generational age breaks further suggest that social capital production is related to Internet use among Generation X, while it is tied to television use among Baby Boomers and newspaper use among members of the Civic Generation. The possibility of life cycle and cohort effects is discussed.