Non-optimal impacts of internet expansion on community capacity in rural areas

Population decline and aging have caused various critical problems in rural areas in developed countries, including Japan. Recently, information and communication technology (ICT) has widely spread even in rural areas. International research has been steadily increasing on the relationships between individuals' internet use, their offline activities, and their sense of community. Previous studies have shown that ICT affects rural communities in a variety of ways such as through social capital, sense of community, place attachment, and residents' participation in local activities. However, few researchers have examined these impacts in rural Japan, the country with the world's most aged population and a rich ICT infrastructure. This study examined the impacts of ICT on rural community in Japan with a special focus on community capacity. The result showed that non-internet users engaged in offline local activities more actively and had a higher sense of community than did users. However, the group that actively used the internet for purposes both related and unrelated to the community also engaged most actively in offline local activities and had the highest sense of community. In contrast, the group that used the internet for purposes unrelated to the community (shopping, entertainment, etc.) did not engage in offline local activities and had the least sense of community. This study provides significant insights into how ICT should be introduced into rural areas where the ICT penetration is expected to be higher in the future.