Digital Divide Global

Have you ever wondered if people in Africa or any less developed countries have the technologies you have? Or can they use a computer? This is where digital divide comes along. Digital divide has been a problem for quite a long period of time, Digital divide just like any other issue like economic and social problems, it is has become global. Global Digital divide is best described as having opportunity to access the internet, communication tools and any kind of ICT and technology and those who do not. But it’s not just about having these technologies; it is also about having the knowledge, the skills and the abilities to use these technologies.

The digital divide can exist through different situations like the area of where you live, urban area or rural area, the educated and uneducated and the difference between economic state of different countries and more.

Developed Countries

We now live in the world where if you’re rich, you’ll only get richer and richer and get more power but if you’re poor, it seems that you’ll only get poorer. This is a key factor that cause digital divide.

Developed countries have no problem on having or getting an access to different technologies and internet.  Their economic state is very stable therefore they have sufficient income and money is not a problem. They also get the best technologies, best technician and develop these technologies further. An example of this type of countries is America; America is very populated and has millions of people from around the world. Even though they are very populated, most of these people work everyday which makes America very stable. Computers are also provided in some work places therefore ICT skills are very much needed and therefore most American would know how to operate a computer.

Developing Countries or less developed countries

As we all now, money is a huge problem in less developed countries. If someone does have money, that person would have much at all. People in these countries simple do now have the money to buy and get technologies. Additionally, technology is not a big problem for them, it’s not what they actually need which makes it less important. First thing on their mind is just keeping alive and having the basic needs to live.

Income differences between the 2 types of countries would also cause Digital Divide. The more extra money you have the better chances of you getting technologies but as I said above in less developed countries, this extra money might be use for something more important for them.

Rural Area

Rural area is most likely to be located in the country side, this is where infrastructures are not developed, they also have low population and pretty much just all land. People who lived in this area might have access to the internet but it might be hard to get them as they’re isolated or away from the cities meaning that high speed internet connection is hard to come by as internet companies will not build an infrastructure in rural area as they know that there are less people and there isn’t much potential subscribers.

Urban Area

Urban area is the complete opposite of rural area. This is where many people are located and most likely to be located in cities. People are attracted to live in this area as there are many jobs available for them, big shops, many people to meet and just simple because their family is from there. Urban area is where you can see big buildings; these buildings will normally have computers. Many people would have access in internet in this type of area as they’ll need it for work.

Internet companies would most likely to be located here as there are more people, houses and more technologies around which mean they’ll get more money and income.



This is a graph about USA digital divide.  Although this shows that internet users are more likely to be in the urban area, we can’t hide the fact that overall both urban and rural area’s access to the internet is gradually developing every year. This shows that it eventually both rural and urban area would have the same access to the internet or the same amount of internet users  

Educated

Education is a big factor in digital divide. If you’re well educated, you’re most likely to have ICT available around you to help you with your work or even work in the future. Computers are vital at school these days as it has now become the main source of information and there are even some ICT specialist schools. Finishing education could lead to many life changing opportunities like getting a better job, higher up in the society status and this could all lead to having a better life overall not just for yourself but for your family. With a better job comes better income or money, this means that you’ll be then be able to buy technologies that you’ve always wanted. It’s amazing how education and hard work can change people’s lives.

Uneducated

Not everyone has a chance to go to school and even finish school.  In some countries you’ll have to pay to get into schools, money has massive effect to education. Without the right amount of funding, education would be difficult. Poor countries struggled with getting funding for education; this is maybe because their country wants to focus on something else or maybe just simply the fact that their leader is corrupt.

This also works reversely, without computers or any technologies education would be difficult.  This is why rich countries tend to have better school system and better academic awards or grades which improve their country over all.

Age

Some people would argue that age has a factor in digital divide.  Obviously the older generation didn’t grow up with technologies around them, technologies are just recently invented.  Older generation doesn’t seem to be encouraged to use technology at all, they don’t see the point of it but this is only because they are use to not having them. If you ask a teenager right now if they could live without technologies, the obvious answer would probably be no.

But for some older people they are now trying their best to learn or want to learn how to use technologies; there are many organisations around the world that helps them. This is one way of bridging digital divide which I’ll be discussing more off later.

This is a graph that shows people age over 18 in USA who uses computer or internet. This graphs shows that it is gradually increasing every year.

By narrowing the digital divide in the world, I would like to think that all countries would develop quicker and efficiently. It wouldn’t just help countries as a whole but it would also help individuals. Additionally, I think that the world would also be a lot closer as we could all communicate with each other easily and it could also mend the world problems and maybe even stop wars rising in the future.

Here are some stats about digital divide all over the world:

-      In 2004, less than 3 out of 100 Africans use the internet whilst in G8 countries its 1 out of every 2. (G8- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US)

-          There are more than 8 times as many internet users in the US, twice as many internet users in Germany and 3 times as many internet users in Japan than on the entire African continent

-          More than 40 countries have less than 10Mbps of international Internet bandwidth whilst in Belgium a 9Mbps ADSL high speed internet package is available