When one thinks of the urban-rural divide, the availability of high-speed internet is often foremost in people’s minds.  It presents broadband in almost purely positive terms, with its availability supporting health, education, and the economy.

Research from Cardiff University suggests, however, that it might also undermine civic-mindedness.  The researchers compared the behavior of households before and after broadband was installed in their area over a period from 1997 to 2017.

Civic participation

The data shows that being 1.8km closer to the local exchange, and therefore having higher broadband speed, prompted a decline in the likelihood of joining civic organizations of around 5%.  Things were even worse for volunteering, which fell by over 10%, and political participation fell by nearly 20%.

“Overall, our results suggest that broadband internet displaced the time-consuming activities oriented to pursuing the common good,” the researchers explain. “The effect is statistically significant and sizable.”

Indeed, the researchers believe that across the UK, the proximity to a local exchange was enough to change the civic and social participation of around 450,000 people.  This was not something that materialized in every country, however.

“This is a different picture to what we saw in Germany during this period,” they explain. “In the years of fast internet take-up there, the country reported higher levels of voluntary work for cultural, sport, or hobby associations, participation and unpaid work for political parties, and membership in humanitarian organizations.”

By contrast, people in the UK seemed more inclined to use their newfound connectivity for shopping, gaming, and other forms of entertainment rather than civic engagement.  This was reflected by no apparent decline in people’s relationships with their friends.

“We need further research and more specific data on the activities that people perform online to better understand how the societal impact of the fast Internet in light of the growing role of the few social media platforms that monopolize the online discourse, such as Twitter and Facebook,” the authors conclude.