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An online survey of the lifestyles of Chinese undergraduates

Zhang Li, Ma Zhihong and Wu Mingxian
Xi’an Institute of Post and Telecommunications
Xi’an City, China

Chinese undergraduates, most of whom are between 18 and 22 years old, are one of the leading groups of netizens in China. When they graduate and take up posts in society, their behaviour on and attitudes to the Web will seriously affect future applications of the Internet.

Values and attitudes to life are important factors influencing undergraduate behaviour, and in turn their behaviour also shapes their values and life attitudes, often changing them imperceptibly in the course of their studies. As the Internet is an interactive medium and life platform, its effect on undergraduates’ values is particularly worthy of study.
In this project, the Richter scaling method was used to survey undergraduates’ reflections on six values, including 13 points, related to the Internet, and then compare the results with those in the ‘Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China’, which was released by the China Internet Network Information Centre in January 2009. The overall scores for general acceptance (from the CINIC report) and for undergraduates in this study are given in Table 1 (see below).

A comparison of the data in the CINIC report and our survey data showed that:

General acceptance of the Internet as an information channel and a tool for contacting society is high, and its value as a ‘life assistant’ is also gradually emerging. However, trust and a sense of security in the Internet is low, which may be an important reason why the network economy in China is small. Also, with the gradual penetration of the Internet into people’s lives, the sense of distance (here referred to as ‘social isolation’) is gradually rising.
On the other hand, the undergraduates’ level of acceptance was higher than the general acceptance on all the sentences except ‘After having access to the Internet, I am more concerned with social events than before’, which was 3.9 points lower.

Overall, the findings suggest that the value of the Internet for life assistance, as an information channel and for contacting society will strengthen significantly, and that wariness about its trustworthiness and security will weaken. Meanwhile, the feeling of isolation will increase and the Internet function of accelerating social participation will remain fairly level.

Table 1 Undergraduates’ overall acceptance of sentences on lifestyle

Values classification	Test sentence	General acceptance	Acceptance by undergraduate students
Life assistance	Without the Internet, I cannot work or study.	39.0%	56.52%
	Without the Internet, my life would be very monotonous.	59.1%	75.65%
	Handling business online saves me the trouble of visiting a place in person.	69.3%	86.09%
Information channel	Generally I read major news first on the Internet.	61.8%	75.65%
Information channel	When encountering a problem, I go first to the Internet to seek answers.	64.6%	77.39%
A tool for contacting society	I make many new friends on the Internet.	65.4%	68.70%
A tool for contacting society	The Internet strengthens my contact with friends.	82.5%	86.09%
Social isolation	In the age of the Internet, I feel more lonely.	19.9%	43.48%
Social isolation	The Internet reduces the time spent with my family	29.0%	49.57%
Network trust and security	The registration information I fill in on the Internet is true.	47.5%	60.87%
Network trust and security	It is safe to make transactions online.	27.6%	64.35%
Social participation	The Internet is my primary channel for airing my views.	41.9%	52.17%
Social participation	After having access to the Internet, I am more concerned with social events than before.	76.9%	73.04%