Three-level Digital Divide

In the context of the rapid development of Internet technology,the digital divide and the "double-edged sword" effect of the Internet have brought increasingly severe challenges to educational equity.Although the continuous popularization of the Internet has partly narrowed the gap in Internet access among student groups,the continuous upgrading of software and hardware on the Internet has also resulted in the "upgrade" of group differences in student Internet use.The effect is more likely to continue to expand the group differences affected by Internet education and thereby exacerbate educational inequality.In this regard,The following problems exist in most studies in China: pay more attention to the theory than to the evidence,emphasis on the macro rather than the meso and micro,attach importance to the impact of the Internet on academics and not the actual effect of the Internet on students' physical and mental health,parents' family education,and teachers' teaching,lack of a holistic and systematic analysis of group differences in the impact of the Internet on education,similarities,differences,and links to Internet access,use,and effects are still not fully discussed,the impact of the development of Internet technology on the digital divide and the "double-edged sword" effect of the Internet also lacks in-depth research.Based on this,this article takes the Chinese Education Panel Survey(CEPS)2013-2015 database as the analysis object,using the absolute gap measurement method of the digital divide,the relative gap index method,general multiple linear regression,multiple regression with interactive effects,and the rate of change as the quantitative analysis methods,discussing from aspects of "group differences in access to and use of the Internet" "Internet and students' physical and mental health" "Internet and students' interpersonal communication" "Internet and students' academic achievements" "Internet and parents' family education" "Internet and teachers' teaching" to systematically analyze the similarities,differences,and connections of Internet access,use,and group heterogeneity and time variation of Internet impact on Education.This study found:First,the differences between the first-level and second-level digital divides are significant.The increasing popularity of the Internet is gradually reducing the first-level digital divide(group gaps in access to digital resources)between the dominant student groups and disadvantaged student groups in all dimensions;thesecond-level digital divide(group gaps in use of digital resources)has reversed,the Internet use time of the dominant student group is shorter than that of the disadvantaged student group.Second,the effects of various types of Internet are quite different.In general,students' Internet use is “excessive”,which negatively affects their physical and mental health,interpersonal interactions,and academic achievements;school informatization has an inverted “U” shape effect;Parents' Internet use is conducive to the promotion of students' academic achievements but exerts a negative effect on parent-child interaction;teacher informatization has a significant difference on the different education activities between head teacher and teachers from various subjects;Internet use effect of students,school informationization effect,Internet use effect of parents and the teacher informationization effect have been continuously enhanced with time.Third,the third-level digital divide in each dimension is narrowing.In the 2013 academic year,the dominant student groups of all dimensions suffered fewer negative effects of various types of Internet,while the disadvantaged student groups encountered a greater number of "bad luck" from Internet.By the 2014 academic year,under the influence of factors such as changes in the digital divide between the first and second levels,differences in time costs between disadvantaged student groups and the dominant student groups,the adjustment of the role of schools and regions,and the more negative impact of school informatization on dominant groups,the group differences in effects of Internet use(the third-level digital divide)gradually diminish.