MSE News: TV and internet a necessity for half of Britain

mtc95

Sooler wrote: »

How can 7401 (49% of 15,105) MSE visitors who answered an internet poll equate to "half of Britain" when 27% of Britain don't even have access to the internet!!!

Exactly. The headline to that article falls well short of the usual high standards of this site. It is the sort of thing that the tabloids do to produce shock-horror headlines - extrapolate an internet or magazine poll to make it sound like it is somehow representative of society as a whole.

Dreamnine

I don't have a tv because I don't want one... similarly I have no dvd player, microwave, freezer, games system etc.

I do have an electric cooker, fridge, washing machine, but no tumble-dryer.

jenniewb

The more people post, the more I think this is a mad survey- it just proves that you really cannot place everyone under the same umbrella, everyone is different.

Take for example:

The heavily disabled mother, working father, 3 children and live in a rough area (so not good to play outside). How important do you think a games machine would be to them, especially in the summer?

The person who works hard, travels with the job, plays hard and comes home just to sleep. A TV would be a waste for them, internet more useful and a microwave over an oven also more suited then an oven and a freezer/fridge.

The person who works as a laundrette, the person phoblic of computers, the person who is blind, the person who lives in one of those 10sq m flats in London to be close to work/family....

You really cannot put everyone in the same basket, we all have different lives, different lifestyles and different needs. Each to their own.

split_second

only problem with this survey is that people generalise based on their lives:

i would deem a mobile as essential, mainly because most of the people close to me are 5-10 miles away and i live alone, my dad only has one cos he works all over the country and it helps him keep in touch with my mum.

some things are so cheap they are classed as essential, for example something like a kettle- maybe not NEEDED but expected really as there is no excuse these days for not having something so cheap

StumpyPumpy

Not really the only problem with the survey, but one of many. It should treated as a bit of fun and nothing more, the results certainly shouldn't be extrapolated to apply to any population beyond those who answered the survey directly, and even then only with a liberal pinch of salt.
This was a self-selecting poll, therefore the people providing answers had expressed some interest in it, which skews results in the first place. There was also no attempt to get a cross-section of the general population which also skews the results. More skewing occurs as part of the survey includes opinion on internet access and the only people who could answer the survey had some form of internet access.
But, as I said, I assume this was only done for a bit of fun (and to test the newly implemented multichoice polls on the forum) So in modification of my first statement, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the survey until anyone attempts an interpretation and extrapolation of the results.
I did my own survey last week and discovered that 80% of people in the UK are pregnant. Mind you, I did only ask 4 people... And I was in the reception of my local ante-natal clinic... And the 20% who weren't pregnant were me... And I'm male.
But it sure is an amazing figure if you extrapolate it out and omit to mention how the survey could be skewed. And no different to how most of the tabloid press get their so-called stats based headlines.

Eco_Miser

I didn't select a cooker as a necessity because I don't have one. I don't buy take-aways either.
I do have a microwave, and a hotplate, and a kettle (though given the hotplate and a pan, it's not necessary).
Likewise I didn't consider central heating a neccessity; other forms of heating are available.