There are numerous studies documenting that indicators of trust, civic participation and social interaction have been declining in many countries since at least the second half of the 1990s.

The Coronavirus pandemic has further strained interpersonal relations. For the past two years, social distancing has hindered many forms of participation in public life, undermining trust in institutions and social cohesion and adding to an already difficult situation for social capital in Europe.

Some authors have attributed the initial decline in social capital in Europe to the increasingly pervasive use of television. It seems plausible that the effect of the Internet, a more interactive medium than television and capable of providing on-demand content, may have been even stronger. This possibility was investigated by an international team of researchers comprising Fabio Sabatini from the Department of Economics and Law of Sapienza University of Rome, Andrea Geraci (University of Pavia), Mattia Nardotto (KU Leuven) and Tommaso Reggiani (Cardiff University), who asked whether time spent online could disrupt our political and social participation, making us more focused on ourselves and less willing to worry about the well-being of the community in which we live.

To answer this question, researchers combined information on the topology of the UK's old telephone network with geo-localised sample data collected annually from 1998 to 2018 by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, showing the extent to which high-speed internet use has affected various dimensions of social capital: while civic and political participation are more vulnerable to new media pressure on users' time allocation choices, relationships with family and friends, on the other hand, appear to be resilient to the impact of new communication technologies. The study results have been published in the Journal of Public Economics.

The empirical analysis showed in particular that activities oriented towards the common good and requiring a significant amount of time, such as involvement in the initiatives of voluntary associations (bridging social capital), were most affected by the 'displacement' effect of broadband. The effect is statistically significant and of considerable size. A reduction of 1.8 km in the distance between home and the nearest telephone network node, corresponding to a substantial increase in connection speed, caused a decrease in the probability of participating in membership activities of 4.7% between 2005 and 2017. For voluntary associations, the likelihood of participation decreased by 10.3%. In the case of political parties, broadband access caused a reduction in partecipation of19%.

On the other hand, the displacement effect did not affect relationships with family and friends (a form of social capital of the bonding type) based on existing ties, which tend to reinforce individuals' focus on particularistic goals.

"This not very reassuring result may even provide the key to interpreting recent social phenomena such as the growing detachment of the public from politics" - says Fabio Sabatini. "However, the empirical evidence observed in the UK is not necessarily valid everywhere: the economic and social impact of broadband penetration may vary according to the initial stock of social capital, the institutional context and the users' use of the fast network."

References:

Broadband Internet and social capital - Andrea Geraci, Mattia Nardotto, Tommaso Reggiani, Fabio Sabatini - Journal of Public Economics  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104578

Further Information

Fabio Sabatini 
Department of Economics and Law
fabio.sabatini@uniroma1.it