Abstrakt
Despite the importance of the answer for both policymakers and Internet researchers, this question has been heavily neglected in the respective research areas. Although there have been several attempts to draw researchers' atttention to the idea that the decision not to use the Internet can be interpreted as a rational act (cf., Weaver, Zorn, & Richardson, 2010; Wyatt, Thomas, & Terranova, 2002), the social scientific Internet research is dominated by the assumption that Internet usage is beneficial in itself thus leaving nonusers in disadvantaged position (cf., Mossberger, 2008; O'Hara & Stevens, 2006; van Dijk, 2005; Warschauer, 2004).
But surprisingly, this assumption lacks empirical evidence (Lupac & Sladek 2008; Helsper 2012). According to 2009 Oxford Internet Institute survey, only 5 % of nonusers declared that they could perform better in their daily tasks if they used the Internet (Dutton, Helsper, & Gerber, 2009).
The primary goal of the paper is to help better understand the relation between Internet nonuse and well-being by analyzing data from 2014 survey of the "World Internet Project - the Czech Republic II" project. The links between experienced impact of internet non-use on selected dimensions of social well-being, social capital, proxy use of the Internet, life satisfaction, and sociodemograpics are presented as well as the basic differences between partly and completely disconnected nonusers.