The deep integration of “Internet plus” and education transformation is at the juncture of history. However, the rapid popularization of Internet is in sharp contrast to the persistent imbalance of education between urban and rural areas. Therefore, the relationship between the development of Internet and the cognitive inequality between urban and rural teenagers is worthy of deep reflection. Based on the follow-up data of China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), and the estimation method of Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression (IVQR), the relationship between Internet use and cognitive ability inequality between urban and rural teenagers is empirically examined through the analysis of two channels—the difference in obtaining and the difference in returns. The results show that the obtaining and returns of Internet among urban teenagers are significantly higher than that of rural teenagers, which stimulates the widening inequality of cognitive ability between urban and rural teenagers. Therefore, the policy guidance should advance the “settling down” of Internet resources to guarantee the access to Internet for rural teenagers, and should even more improve their “Internet literacy” to strengthen the returns of Internet on cognitive ability. |