Internet, Domestic Life and

The Domestication of ICTs

The processes by which different technologies become embedded in people's lives have been the subject of considerable research, especially in the areas of the economic processes of innovation and purchase and the sociological processes of everyday use. For investigating economic processes, gross-level behavior is of interest; researchers define those who are the first to buy technologies as early adopters and the last to buy as laggards. Each of these groups is thought to make up about 25 percent of the population, with the 50 percent majority somewhere in the middle. Focusing on the purchase decision, however, is not helpful for understanding what happens to these technologies once they enter the home. Some people may, for example, stop using them after a period of experimentation.

When new ICTs first arrive, their use is often relatively unclear except to a few specialists, and the technologies often appear threatening, especially to those with little knowledge of or interest in them. Over time, familiarization, experience, training, and (perhaps most important) experimentation lead to a “domestication” cycle. Cheaper, simpler, better versions of the ICT become available, and more and more people come to understand how to use it. As a result, the ICT becomes so familiar to most people that it disappears as a technology in everyday language.

The point at which an ICT becomes “domesticated,” however, differs for various people and changes through time. For instance, the cell phone has become a tool of business, safety, and security; an item of fashion [Page 775]and convenience; and a facilitator of young people's social communication. The same device and the same service thus play radically different roles in the lives of different people.

Gender- and Age-Related Differences in ICT Domestication Patterns

Research projects have examined gender and age differences in domestication patterns of ICTs and have uncovered characteristics that seem to be shared in many countries. Women, for example, make far greater domestic use of the telephone, both in terms of the number of calls and their duration, in most developed countries. Telephone usage decreases steadily with age until retirement, at which point it then increases. Men show much the same overall pattern, but their telephone usage is consistently lower than that of women. These findings are thought to indicate the role of women in maintaining social networks, although with the trend toward greater female employment in some countries, this role may change.

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