Beyond the Digital Divide, much Beyond
The fact that low income earners have an impaired ability to access or use the Internet when compared to wealthier groups, is not news.
We detected and branded this phenomenon long ago as The Digital Divide. And we defined it as the:
"Gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet and those who do not" (namely rich and poor, black and white, urban and rural, educated and uneducated}.
And while most of us are sensitised to the effects of this social phenomenon, this divide is not showing any signs of improving any time soon. And the thing is, we are often fed colossal figures to impress us about the overwhelming reach of the Net but on closer inspection we realise things are not really what they seem.
For instance:
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In Australia alone, a report by Anglicare Victoria found that a lack of access to the internet is exacerbating the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. Surveying more than 300 people who needed emergency relief and financial counselling services, researchers found nearly half (49 per cent) did not have an Internet connection and more than half (56 per cent) did not have access to a mobile phone.
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In India, while internet crossed the tipping point of 100 million users in 2011 [IAMAI report (2012)], still only a modest 20 percent of urban Indians are connected. What's worse - only three percent, or 38 million, of the 833 million people who live in rural India have accessed internet to date.
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In China, The 'Survey Report on Internet Development in Rural China 2009', published by the China Internet Network Information Center in 2009 found that more than 106 million rural people used the Internet in the country (up by a quarter on the previous year) but just 15 per cent of rural Chinese were using the Internet compared with 45 per cent in cities. In 2007, the figures were five and 22 per cent respectively. So, although internet use increased, the gap widened from 17 to 30 per cent.
These figures are just the tip of the iceberg.
You just need to dig a little deeper and you'll see how it'll soon become nearly impossible for billions of people to catch up with all the advances in information technology, let alone, have the skill to know how to read and navigate through a website or to use it profitably for business purposes.
