In today’s digital age, the internet has a central role in the lives of individuals in many societal domains. When using the internet, however, users differ in their knowledge and internet skills, which has led to digital inequality in the society. This marks the digital divide between the digitally included and excluded groups of individuals. At the same time, many internet services, including search engines and social media, are increasingly using algorithms, which customize or personalize online content for the user, based on various factors and parameters. Past studies showed that users are often unaware or are unfamiliar with the functioning of such algorithms. Such low levels of algorithmic skills can significantly shape the patterns and consequences of their internet use. In this thesis, we, thus, first explore the conceptual connections between the notions of internet and algorithmic skills. Then, we aim to find out in what way and to what extent are these potential conceptual connections between the internet and algorithmic skills reflected on the empirical level. To this end, we collected data through a web survey among users of a selected social network site, based on which we tried to assess the empirical relationships between both types of skills. The results of statistical analyses showed that the only statistically significant association exists between algorithmic skills and information navigation internet skills. This finding is relevant for future research on how algorithmic skills could be integrated into the conceptual models of internet skills.
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