Older age groups are on par with youth in use and access for television and radio but fall behind in terms of new media use and access.

• The youth (here defined as those 16-29) are the most important age group in terms of media and communications use and access in urban Nicaragua. Below is a snapshot of their media habits.

Household Access

• Television and radio access is near universal for all age groups in urban Nicaragua. Cable television is most accessible to the middle-aged population. Landline phones seem to be a fading trend; older respondents are more likely to have it and household access reduces as one’s age does.

Chart 1

• On the other hand, mobile phones are far more common with younger respondents, and access rates fall substantially as age increases, as can be seen in chart 2. The same can be said for MP3 players and i-Pods.

Chart 2

• Household access to computers and internet connections and sophisticated phones such as Blackberries and i-Phones is still very rare across all age groups, with the oldest respondents being particularly disadvantaged.

General Frequency of Use

Chart 3

• The number of people using ICTs (mobile phones and the internet) on a frequent basis delines with age, as can be seen in chart 3. The same can be said for newspapers.
• Similarly, when weekly sources of news are examined, we also see this use decreasing with age (in Chart 4).

Chart 4

Internet Activities

• Internet use was dominated by those 15-29 and 30-44. The older age groups did not have adequate access for further statistical analysis (possibly due to lack of technical literacy or expense).

Chart 5

• As far as access points are concerned, the youth are more likely to access the internet at internet cafés, whereas older respondents are more likely to have web access at the work place and at home (see chart 5).

Chart 6

• Nicaraguan youth show greater frequency and intensity in all types of internet activity when compared to those 30-44, as can be seen in Chart 6, specifically, accessing Youtube videos, downloading music and playing games online.

Chart 7

• Specifically, newer Web 2.0 activities such as accessing social networking websites and blogging are far more common with youth than with those 30-44. Financial transactions are not conducted frequently online by most people, but they are done slightly more frequently by middle aged Nicaraguans, who probably have higher average incomes and more disposable income than younger Nicaraguans (see chart 7).

Chart 8

• With blogging, the youth are most likely to access entertainment related blogs, while blogs about technology and politics did not seem popular. In addition, as table 1 shows, social networking websites (especially Hi5) are overwhelmingly accessed in greater proportions by younger respondents.

Mobile Phone Activities

Chart 9

• Eighty eight percent of urban youth and those 30-44 in Nicaragua have household access to a mobile phone which makes them the groups with highest access. Eighty three percent of those 30-44 use mobile phones at least once a month, making them the biggest overall users of any age group. However, charts 9 and 10 show that youth are far more likely to usee more non-voice activities such as accessing the internet on their cell phones, downloading videos, listening to the radio and almost every other activity as shown.

Chart 10

• Of those respondents who did not have internet access on their mobile phones, close to half in the youngest three 3 age groups said that their device was not advanced enough to be internet enabled. In addition, youth with lesser disposable incomes were most likely to cite expense as a restriction (24 percent versus 13 percent for those 30-44 and 16 percent for those 45-59).

Traditional Media Use Highlights

• In particular, FM frequency is the most popular for all age groups. Convergence of mediums through activities such as listening to the radio on the internet, which is becoming more common in nations with greater connectivity, is yet to become very popular in urban Nicaragua. On the other hand, stations on the MW/AM frequency are more popular with older age groups.