Measuring users’ internet skills: A review of past assessments and a look toward the future

Abstract

As the abilities to navigate and communicate using the internet increasingly play an important role in our social and professional lives, scholars must stay attuned to what such internet skills entail and how everyday users differ when it comes to such abilities. This article reviews the last decade of literature on measurements of everyday users’ basic internet skills, organizing how scholars have defined and measured the construct, and then systematically presenting what these past assessments tell us about internet skills and their relationship to other factors. Building on this foundation, the review concludes with a research agenda to advance this line of work, including a call for more valid and nuanced measures that capture the added layers of sophistication and sociability needed for today’s internet use.