The Digital Divide

 

In June 2020 when the world shut down for most of us due to the covid 19 pandemic, we were all forced to stay inside and isolate. Our lives main shifted online with school, work, grocery shopping and even bank transactions being conducted online, and though it was very different from our pre-pandemic life, we could still work and earn online. But the same can't be said for a lot of people. Infact according to a 2022 study conducted, only 658 million out of India's 1.40 billion population were Internet users. In other words, that means only around 47% of India's population has access to the Internet. This is a prime example of the term digital divide.

 

Now we bring ourselves to the question of what is digital divide? The digital divide refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology and those that don’t. The gap it speaks about is constantly changing as technology advances, even if the word today includes the technical and financial abilities to employ existing technology, as well as access (or a lack of access) to the internet.

 

When the term was first used in the late 20th century, it was used to described the gap between those who had cellphone access and those who did not. The term digital divide was coined in the mid-1990s by Lloyd Morrisett. He coined the term digital divide to mean “a discrepancy in access to technology resources between socioeconomic groups'." Following this Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, published an article in 2006 that captured the idea of how we currently view this issue.

1. The economic gap,
2.  the usability divide,
3.  and the empowerment divide

 are the three stages that he divides the digital divide into in his article.

 

Even though access to computers and the internet continues to grow, the digital divide dramatically also continues to persist at an alarming rate due to geographical restriction, income levels, digital literacy and other things. Globally, the digital divide in developing countries includes a lack of access to digital technology and internet service. It can also include a lack of accessibility to modern, high-quality new technologies such as mobile phones and Wi-Fi access.

 

Although most see digital divide as a positive, not everything is entirely good. Technological discrimination robs some citizens of resources necessary for growth and economic development, which is a type of poverty and social exclusion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a common occurrence as many students and workers found it challenging to work from home and attend classes online. With the rise of digital divide came the rise of gender discrimination, barriest to studies and education, lack of communication and isolation and it accentuated social differences.

 

 As a society, we are faced with the hard question of "how do we bridge the digital divide?" Many such initiatives have been started to target this specific problem. The annual celebration of World Information Society Day by the United Nations, for instance, has contributed to increasing public awareness of the global digital divide. In an effort to close the global digital divide, it also established the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force.

 

But it hasn't gotten any simpler to close the digital divide, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak. According to a 2020 McKinsey report, learning loss will only get worse since teachers and students are increasingly using remote learning, and low-income families may not have access to the proper equipment. To combat this, some nonprofit groups have taken to providing internet access and laptops to school districts and areas with internet users of a lower-income level.

 

As we slow progress into the future it is becoming more and more evident that most of us heavily rely on technology in our day to day lives. This not only increases the digital divide but impacts are social lives as well. We need to learn to consciously consume the internet and help bridge the gap of the digital divide instead of spending most of our days mindlessly scrolling through the internet.