Digital Skills and Trust

A deep dive into the role digital skills play in people’s interest in and ability to adopt and engage with the internet. This report reveals how much trust people place in public and private institutions such as schools and community-based nonprofits when it comes to learning about discounted and subsidized internet services. The survey findings, focused on income-insecure households (those making $50,000 or less annually), highlight the importance of digital skills training programs and trusted outreach partners as critical components to effective digital inclusion initiatives. 

• Digital skills help people approach new online challenges with less worry.  Compared to those with low levels of digital skills, those with higher skill levels are more likely to have used new applications because of the pandemic and less likely to say they had difficulty using them
• Digital skills open people’s horizons about the value of having and maintaining internet service: Those with high levels of digitals skills are twice as likely to be satisfied with their home internet service than those with low skill levels. 
• Those who trust community anchor institutions for benefit information adopt a “hands on” posture toward internet service -- they shop around for more affordable plans and are more likely to have heard of discount internet programs.