‘Essential’ vs ‘leisure’ activities online: why this doesn’t mean anything anymore

Jangala’s Impact & Advocacy Lead, Kat Dixon, reflects on learnings from our recent report publication, Digital Lifelines.

One of the big learnings I took away from doing digital inclusion research this year for Jangala is that categorising online activities as ‘essential’ or ‘leisure’ has become meaningless.

We use YouTube to learn about health and nutrition, stream white noise on Spotify to help a baby sleep, call a loved on WhatsApp who encourages us to apply for that job, learn English by watching TV dramas on Netflix - none of these activities or platforms would be traditionally thought of as an ‘essential’, but they can all support health, education or employment outcomes. 

In doing the fieldwork for our recent research report, we interviewed people living in temporary accommodation and asked them to lay down cards with different online activities in order of importance (you can download and use these cards for free). We did this as part of a larger conversation about the impact of internet on their lives. 

What was striking was that people were completely comfortable placing ‘Housing’ and ‘Universal Credit’ next to ‘Streaming video’ and ‘Social Media’. In fact, staying connected to loved ones was seen as vital as sorting out banking and finances. 

So why does this matter?

Well, it matters because there’s around 2 million people in the UK who are offline and 8% of households struggle to afford broadband. And when authorities and funders who fund digital inclusion programmes decide where to put money to address this problem, it’s usually around a theme; health, education or employment. 

Programmes are often designed to fund internet to enable someone to talk to a health team, via an NHS trust. Or to access internet via school, education or employment programmes. Sometimes the internet access is limited; there’s an attitude that if an organisation is funding internet to help someone get into work, then that person should only use it to get into work.

But getting into work isn’t just uploading a CV and applying for jobs. It’s calling your loved one who tells you, that yes, you have the skills and you need to believe in yourself. It’s noodling around the internet and trying to picture yourself doing that particular job. It’s reading social media posts and watching videos about other people with those careers. It’s about building aspiration, courage, hope. And you don’t get that if you only have access to a job site. 

The UK Government is starting to approach digital inclusion with this understanding. The recent Digital Inclusion National Action Plan has ministerial support across health, education, work and housing. And more and more programmes are being designed to acknowledge that giving users to freedom to access a variety of activities results in key social impacts. These include a greater sense of empowerment, independence, emotional wellbeing, an increased sense of freedom and reduced social isolation, as is the case with Jangala’s Get Box programme. All of these outcomes are vital to support an individual’s - and a population’s - social mobility and economic activity. 

My call to action? Stop labelling online activities as ‘essential’ or ‘leisure’, and start calling the internet what it is; a vital resource for all. Giving people choice, empowering them to reach towards independence - whether that’s sorting your own prescription, watching your kid’s favourite TV YouTube channel with them, or applying for that job - this is what internet access can bring.