Digital Access, Usage, and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from Vietnam

The arrival and development of digital technologies (e.g. the internet, personal computer) including mobile ones (e.g. smartphones) in recent years have raised both support for and concerns about the effects of adoption and usage on learning outcomes. The arguments come from different educational stakeholders including parents, educators, practitioners, policy makers, and learners themselves. On the one hand, those in favor argue for increasing opportunities to learn (OtL) or seamless learning thanks to the mobility and multifunctionality of mobile internet devices. On the other hand, those against attest to multitasking, task switching, and rising social media or entertainment addiction phenomena as detrimental. With evidence from Vietnam, this paper contributes to the scant literature of net effect of digital devices use, and identified insignificant effect of smartphone use on Math and reading comprehension test scores while positive results of internet and computer access, using linear regressions and Lewbel instrumental variable methods. The results can be explained by the significantly positive effects of internet use for exam samples searching while negative effect of internet use for social networking, which is one among many online platforms competing for attention in the attention economy era. Our results shed light on the intricacy of mobile internet use's effects for upper-secondary school students' key learning outcomes, and offer some recommendations for educational practitioners.