| Summary: | This paper examines patterns of beliefs and attitudes among Internet users in Britain. Using data from the 2013 Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), we employ principal components analysis to identify four sets of beliefs and attitudes that capture most variance across fourteen items. This four dimensions were called enjoyable escape, instrumental efficiency, social facilitator, and problem generator. Hierarchical cluster analysis was then used to identify groups of respondents who cluster together across these four dimensions. Each cluster represents a distinctive cultural perspective on the Internet. The five clusters, which we call cultures of the Internet, and the estimated portion of the British population are: e-Mersives (12%), who are fully at home in and positive about the digital environment, using it for entertainment as well as work and social life; Techno-pragmatists (17%), who use the Internet for instrumental and work-related purposes; the Cyber-savvy (19%), who understand and use all aspects of the Internet, but who are also aware of the risks online; and the Cyber-moderates (37%), who are blaise, not responding strongly to either the positive or negative aspects of the Internet; and the Adigitals (14%), who are online but not happy about it, as they harbour overwhelmingly negative beliefs and attitudes about the Internet. These cultures are not surrogates for demographic patterns, but they each have distinctive demographic characteristics although they challenge conventional conceptions, such as of the born digital generation. They also are related strongly to patterns of use and attitudes toward government regulation of the Internet, suggesting the need for more focused and comparative research on cultures of the Internet.
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