Technology Uplifting Disadvantaged Communities
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The definition of technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes or applications. Technology can use scientific principles to advance industry including medical. Technology includes highly advanced things like computers, to simple things like hammers and wheels.[1]
The effects of technology on society have been both positive and negative. While technology has made it easier to connect with others, access information, and improve medical care, it has also led to job loss, cyberbullying, and technology addiction. Better communication, easier access to information, more productivity, and higher quality healthcare are just a few of how technology has benefited civilization. Technology has a significant impact on people lives, good as well as bad, but only the matter is that they should realize it’s both aspects. In the health sector, for instance, IT-enabled frontier technologies are helping to save lives, diagnose diseases and extend life expectancy. [1]
The use of information technology (IT) is growing; access and use differ among those from different races, ethnicities, income and education levels, jobs, ages, and genders described as digital divide. This digital divide was further thrown into the spotlight after the COVID-19 pandemic shifted all aspects of life—from work to education to socializing—online at an unprecedented pace. During this time, the world experienced an internet spike, with 466 million people using the internet for the very first time in 2020. The number of global internet users and the percentage of internet penetration continued to grow from 2021 to 2022 at 7% and 6% respectively. While this growth indicates that progress has been made in digital access, the fact remains that as of 2022, 2.7 billion people, representing a third of the world, do not have access to the internet and 53% of the world does not have access to high-speed broadband, leading to the risk of compounding negative effects in terms of economic, political, and social inclusion and equality. These trends make it plain that policymakers should care about addressing the global digital divide, and pay attention to the continental differences that exist around technology access and use.
Concept Of The Digital Divide
The digital divide is a term that refers to the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology (ICT), and those that don't or have restricted access. This technology can include the telephone, television, personal computers and internet connectivity. The digital divide often means a lack of access to broadband internet access and wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi. 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.[2]
Digital Divide-Factors
The digital divide typically exists between those in urban areas and those in rural areas; between the educated and the uneducated; between socioeconomic groups; and, globally, between the more and less industrially developing countries. Even among populations with some access to technology, the digital divide can be evident in the form of lower-performance computers, lower-speed wireless connections, lower-priced internet use connections such as dial-up and limited access to subscription-based content. Well before the late 20th century, the digital divide referred chiefly to the division between those with and without telephone access. After the late 1990s, the term began to be used mainly to describe the split between those with and without internet access, however, particularly broadband.[3]
Digital Access- The Data
The area of digital access and divides is a complex and multifaceted issue. Like many current complex issues, digital divides do not have a single cause or linear effect, and they involve multiple dynamic variables. Furthermore, the challenges digital divides present are constantly changing as the social and economic use of technology continues to evolve. Looking at access to internet and mobile devices alone, there are several layers of division.
The geographic location of the 2.7 billion unconnected varies greatly by region: Internet penetration is 89% in Europe, over 80% in the Americas, and 70% in the Arab States, compared to 61% in Asia and 40% in Africa. Disparities in internet connectivity and use are not limited to geographic divides, but also include gaps based on gender, age, and, rural vs. urban populations. As of 2022, there are 264 million fewer women accessing the internet than men, with women 7% less likely to own a mobile phone and 16% less likely to use mobile internet than men. Younger populations are more likely to be online as well, with 75% of global youth (aged 15-24) connected to the internet, compared to 65% of the rest of the population. In 2021, the number of internet users in urban areas was double the number in rural areas. These disparities in access to internet and mobile devices are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the complexities and inequalities that exist within other areas of the digital divide.
To navigate this complexity, it is critical to understand that the “digital divide” does not just include the divide between those with access to the internet or mobile devices and those without, but is made up of additional overlapping divides in digital skills, digital use, quality of infrastructure, access to content, etc. [3]
How To Bridge The Digital Divide Gap
The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organizes its goals for bridging the digital divide into two buckets: universal connectivity and meaningful connectivity. The layers within these two goals can be further broken down into multiple types of access as: physical, financial, socio-demographic, cognitive, institutional, political, and cultural. The digital divide can be closed by implementing digital inclusion policies, programs and tools that incorporate the following: [4]
Issues
Proponents for bridging the digital divide include those who argue it would improve digital literacy, digital skills democracy, social mobility, economic equality and economic growth. The United Nations, for example, has helped to raise awareness regarding the global digital divide through the yearly celebration of World Information Society Day. It has also created the Information and Communication Technologies Task Force in an effort to bridge the global digital divide.
Digital technology is the new engine of industrial development during the new industrial revolution, and it is the main driving force for the formation and development of digital economy. Digital technology in a narrow sense mainly refers to the technology of coding, computing, processing, storing, transmitting, spreading, restoring and applying numbers. In recent years, the global digital economy has grown vigorously, which has provided countries with effective channels to create new economic growth points and new economic drivers. Countries have seized development opportunities in an attempt to seize or lock-in more digital economic development dividends. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19, Chinese online economy has taken the lead in the world. Epidemic has intensified the competition between countries for development dividends, and the digital business environment has become the focus of global competition in the ‘post-epidemic era’, which aims to build a data transaction platform and ensure data security.
References
1. Arthur WB. New York, NY: Free Press; 2009. The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves
2. Perez C. Structural change and assimilation of new technologies in the economic and social systems. Futures. 1983;15(5):357–375. doi: 10.1016/0016-3287(83)90050-2.
3. Edwards, S. (2015). New concepts of play and the problem of technology, digital media and popular-culture integration with play-based learning in early childhood education. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 25(4), 1-20. Doi: 10.1080/1475939X.2015.1108929
4. Acemoglu, D., Restrepo, P., 2018. The race between man and machine: Implications of technology for growth, factor shares, and employment. American Economic Review 108(6), 1488-15