Abstract: In a digital society，clearing up the relationship between the use of Internet and city dwellers’sense of political gain is important for enhancing the efficacy of urban governance and improving the quality of democratic political development. Based on the 2019 data of Chinese General Social Survey（CGSS），the influence of Internet usage on urban dwellers’sense of political gain，as well as the mechanism of action，is empirically studied. It is found that Internet exposure and the use of Internet as a tool prominently promote city dwellers’sense of political gain，while the use of it as entertainment has nothing to do with the raise of their sense of political gain；and the conclusion remains solid after instrumental variables are introduced to control the potential endogenous problems. Both social trust and social equality play a shading effect between Internet exposure and sense of political gain，while social equality has a partial mediation effect between the tool type of use and sense of political gain. Hence，in order to comprehensively promote urbane dwellers’sense of political gain in a digital society，people should pay attention to the political value of the Internet，inspect the de-political effect of Internet pan-entertainment，enhance social trust and social equality by building a clean cyberspace，and strengthen citizens’digital attainment and cultivate their positive behavior on the Internet.

Key words: Internet exposure；pattern of using the Internet；sense of political gain；social trust；social equality