Digital Divide — A critical analysis

All connectivity is not created equal, in the internet age, which technologies and devices you use to connect increasingly determine your online opportunities — Meinrath.

Technology, in the 21st century, is being used in economic, political and socio-cultural ways for the purpose of production and communication. People with better access and technological expertise are therefore able to exploit the full potential of Information and Communication technologies (ICTs). Those who possess the latest technological knowhow reap more benefits resulting in a higher social and economic status. The skills required for the use of the Internet can be defined in terms of the number of websites accessed; time spent online, proficiency in using the internet and the variety of ways in which the Internet is used. The people with these skills derive more benefits from the use of ICTs which results in a divide between ‘information haves and have nots’. Hence, the skills used to access the Web are more stratified than access itself. This indicates a paradigm shift in the commonly understood definition of the digital divide, that is, who has access and who does not. The new definition of the digital divide is now based on the skills of the user and the quality of access. This divide can be assessed in terms of an individual’s age, educational qualifications, and economic status which in turn are influenced by their geographical location and Governmental policies. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report, those with Internet access have doubled worldwide in the last five years. The number of households with Internet access was 16% in the developing countries and versus 66% in developed countries. Therefore, there is a clear digital divide between High income countries and low income countries. The former provide high speed, higher bandwidth and quality of access whereas the latter provide lower speed, capacity and quality of access. Hence I argue that the digital divide has shifted from mere access to both the skills of the user and the quality of access.

Governmental policies have a direct impact on the economic and social status of its people especially with regards to the digital divide. For example, the liberalization policy adopted by Jamaica in the year 2000 opened the door to foreign telecom industries for a sector that was dominated by Cable & Wireless* for 128 years. The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) data shows that there were approximately 2.95 million cellphone users in Jamaica with a mobile phone penetration rate of 109% per cent as of December 2011. The widespread adoption of mobile phones opened new avenues of livelihood for the low income Jamaicans. Therefore the cell phone has had a positive impact in transforming the lives of Jamaicans. On the other hand, the categorization of Ghanaian youth as a security threat directly affects their right to open access of the Internet. The World Wide Web Foundation’s annual web index report, tracking global censorship, observed that 94% of the countries do not adequately monitor government internet interception and 30 % of them block political content. Therefore, our use of the Internet is being subjected to control and surveillance. Governmental control directly affects the use and quality of access of ICTs. It can be inferred that those belonging to a controlled atmosphere suffer in regards to the use of ICTs. The result is an unequal hierarchy of digital opportunities and new divides. As a result of these unequal opportunities, a divide is created between those who live in liberal countries and those who don’t.

The Chinese government claims that it has the right to control the internet according to its rules, defending its Internet censorship policy. As a result 18,000 websites are blocked in China. Censorship of access creates a knowledge divide between the Chinese population and the rest of the world. Furthermore, Governments exercise their power by subjectification of their people. Foucault’s theory of Governmentality is relevant in terms of Government censorship, surveillance and control. It shapes our understanding of how the Government exercises control to transform society and its people. At the same time, the widespread use of internet connected PCs is far from accomplished but mobile phones have rapidly penetrated even the most remote corners of the world. The International Telecom Union 2011 Report concludes that mobile broadband technologies face greater problems with regards to speed, capacity and quality as compared to fixed technologies. It affects the way ICTs are used by those who can access the Internet through mobile phones versus computers.

Young Adults or digital natives are proficient in using video-games, cell phones, and computers as they’ve always been surrounded by technology (Wallis 2013:07). While a Chinese migrant labourer may use a mobile phone to take photos, a digital native might use the photos to update their Facebook account. However, the elders of digital natives may lack the necessary skills to own a Facebook account and regard it as a youth domain. Therefore the older generation’s perception of technology is directly related to their ability to interact with ICTs. Older generations exoticize technologically mediated communication and its youthful users. Jamaicans refer to the skills of the young generation in terms of using the mobile phone as if ‘dem born with it or dem and the phone a twin’. Also, the need for young Chinese women to keep their mobile phones hidden from the elders of the family for the fear of being reprimanded implies the gap in the perception of technology between the digital natives and the older generation. Furthermore, the older generation in Jamaica perceives mobile phones as something for the next generation. Their inability to use technology for the purposes that the youth uses may discourage them from buying an advanced version of a mobile phone. The older versions of mobile phones may not support high speed internet access and data applications. Hence, access to internet does not necessarily mean appropriation of technology as necessary skills are required to make the most of these resources. There is a remarkable difference between the way digital natives and the older generation use technology. For example, the people over the age of 80 living in countries with a higher diffusion of ICTs may access the internet to communicate with their grandchildren. This can be referred to as a generational divide. Herring describes the generational divide as the difference in the expertise of Internet usage between the digital natives and the older generation. However the benefits that the older generation derives from the Internet depend on how well they use it. Allison Clark uses McQuail’s knowledge gap media theory to demonstrate the knowledge gap that exists between the media use and information levels obtained by information rich, the haves and information poor, the have nots. Those who know how to use the Internet will continue to benefit, deepening the divide between the information rich and poor further. Therefore, the age based digital divide depends on the positive uptake of ICTs which results in turn to better skills to successfully interact with technology.

Another dimension of the digital divide is the level of education of the users that directly influences their use of ICTs. The educational qualifications of an individual are directly correlated to their skill-set. Higher education indicates a higher skillset and vice versa. The International Telecom Union Report states that there is very little difference between highly educated individuals across the developing and developed countries. However, the data in the report shows that individuals with a higher educational degree use the internet more than those with a lower educational qualifications. Higher education and income levels are closely related to the urban rural divide.

The use of ICTs among the low income rural population is in stark contrast to the way it is used by the urban population. Additionally, the fact that mobile phones are more popular than computers in developing countries implies that a gap exists between the way people in the developing and developed countries use ICTs. The access of the Internet via a higher speed is more beneficial than limited access through mobile connectivity. Therefore the access of the Internet through a computer facilitates better use as compared to access through a mobile phone. Digital natives use emails, latest applications and social networking sites which is made possible by the higher quality of access. The ITU report suggests that research needs to shift its focus from broadband subscription to factors such as speed and quality of service as mobile and fixed broadband technologies facilitate different services. A minimum of 256 kbit/s speed is sufficient for sending emails and using other basic services but it does not support multifaceted applications and services. Therefore, the possession of a mobile phone does not necessarily mean equality in terms of digital usage. The technologies and devices people use to connect determine their opportunities. The focus has shifted to a divide that stresses on not just access to broadband but ‘what users can actually do with their connectivity’ in developing countries. This implies that mobile broadband can only facilitate a reduction in terms of broadband divide as they do not support data intensive usage which is required for the execution of complex tasks. People living in high income advanced countries use ICTs for employment purposes among other uses which leads to better growth opportunities. According to Quantcast’s recent statistics for Linkedin, the largest professional networking site, the monthly unique number of users in US are 74.9 million, UK are 14.6 million, China are 2.2 million and Jamaica are 1 million. The top countries that access Linkedin via mobile phones are US and UK at 5% each. Sue Thomas, a professor of new media, attributes the importance of digital literacy as a part of trans-literacy, which is the ability to interact across a range of platforms, tools and media. These skills can also be used to find employment or entrepreneurial activities. As new information technologies are being used to co-ordinate work related tasks and communicate between continents, an in-depth knowledge of latest web applications and technologies is necessary for professional growth and employment opportunities.

This implies that the lack of technological knowhow hampers the ability to use mobile phones for professional growth. As a result, the gap between the information rich and the information poor broadens further. An important factor that influences the disadvantage of this population is its exclusion from the process of design and innovation.

Technology innovators and designers favour the urban consumers of high income countries over those from low income rural backgrounds. The former urban consumers are seen as a more profitable market. As a result, information technologies are designed for higher status groups and the early adopters of technology tend to be younger and wealthier. Therefore this young and wealthy population from developed countries possess higher level of skills to use ICTs. They are also more cosmopolite in their communication behaviour. This phenomenon is a result of what Burrell describes as the triadic model. Triadic model is framed around customer oriented design and engineering work for known markets. But the demographic that remains excluded from innovation design research resulting in a knowledge gap is not just in terms of urban-rural divide but also on the level of literacy. According to the World Literacy Foundation report, there were more than 796 million people in the world who could not read. These illiterate people can access mobile phones for voice based applications. This unfolds a new level of stratification in terms of lack of skills for the successful use of ICTs. The analysis of the three ethnographies presented above shows that mere access to ICTs does not bridge the digital divide. Instead an emerging stratification, based on the level of skills and quality of access, is evident across demographics based on age, educational and income levels. The age of an individual determines their level of expertise in using ICTs. The ubiquitous use of mobile phones in rural and developing parts of the world does not translate into a digital equality with their urban counterparts from the developed countries. High income individuals from developed countries have better access and resources to develop necessary skills and exploit the full potential that ICTs have to offer. Those from the low income developing countries remain disadvantaged due to factors like low bandwidth, limitation of screen space and slow uptake of technology. Therefore, the previous understanding of the digital divide in terms of mere access to ICTs has undergone a change. The evaluation of the factors leading to the digital divide can be summarised as the gap between 1) older generation and the digital natives, 2) level of education, and 3) high income — low income groups. These factors are further influenced by the geographical location Rural-urban divide, and Governmental policies. All these factors determine the level of skills of an individual and the quality of access of ICTs which determines their position in the digital divide.