Page - 59 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Heinz Bonfadelli | Media Use of Ethnic Minority Youth 59 In the public debate on the digital divide, one can find hypotheses assuming a lack of access to the internet on the part of migrants.A closer look at access to the internet in Switzerland (Table 9) demonstrates that there is not only a gap concerning ethnical background, but also concerning gender, age, the socioeconomic status, and educational background of the family. Taken together, boys, older adolescents, and those coming from more affluent families have better access to the internet, at least within the family. 4.6 Media Use Not surprisingly in light of similar studies in other countries (d’Haenens 2003; Weiß/Trebbe 2001), Swiss adolescents listen to the radio more frequently and for more hours per week than adolescents from an immigrant background. Young people of immigrant background spend more hours watching TV, whereas the frequency of watching TV does not differ from the TV habits of their Swiss peers. The segment of those who do not use the internet at all is higher among the immigrants, but, on the average, young people of immigrant background spend more time online than their Swiss counterparts. Whereas there are no differences between Swiss youth and others concerning the use of magazines and newspapers, students of immigrant background read books significantly less frequently and fewer hours per week than Swiss adolescents. in % Swiss Migrants Italy Turkey Ex-Yugoslavia Newspaper 47 7 44 11 36 12 38 15 46 13 Books 43 5 33 11 31 13 34 7 33 13 Magazines 41 5 30 13 27 15 22 16 30 13 TV 89 3 96 0 99 0 94 2 95 0 Video 25 11 35 8 36 9 27 10 41 3 DVD 28 10 41 8 39 8 37 7 47 8 Computer 53 4 60 7 48 10 60 7 63 9 Internet 67 7 71 11 61 19 72 14 73 8 Radio 70 5 50 14 55 10 35 19 49 17 Music (CD) 89 1 90 1 89 1 96 1 91 1 Playstation 31 30 34 27 33 22 40 19 30 30 Table 10: Frequency of Media Use (“At Least Several Times per Week” vs. “Never”)