The Digital Divide - Just how connected are we?

Technology rules our lives. Most of us can’t function without our mobile phone. Some of us can’t even bare the thought of going a day without Facebook. So what would life be like without the Internet? For many people around the globe, this question is irrelevant, as the Internet still remains a distant dream.

Although the Internet has proven its capacity to serve as an empowering tool for minority groups, it also has the power to divide and alienate huge population groups (Nielsen, 2006). In reality, certain parts of the world will significantly benefit from the informational age, whereas other parts of the population will fall further behind. This is a result of a number of economic, usability and empowerment factors (Nielsen, 2006).

The cost of owning a computer is no longer an issue in areas like Australia, parts of Asia, Europe and North America, where most homes have more than one computer, laptop or mobile phone with working Internet access. However, in poorer developing countries the average citizen is unlikely to even own a computer for at least another twenty years (Nielsen, 2006). This economic divide severely restricts the Internet’s potential to benefit a large portion of the population.

Also adding to the digital divide is the complexity of computing technology. “Technology remains so complicated that many people could not use a computer, even if they got one for free”, as most of the accessible services are too difficult understand (Nielsen, 2006). Whilst usability continues to improve for higher-end users, senior citizens and those with low literacy skills (a massive 40 percent of the population) are left behind as few websites follow guidelines for writing for low-literacy users (Nielsen, 2006). This means that despite having physical access to a computer and the Internet, a large share of the population cannot properly engage with and benefit from the technology.

With regard to the empowerment divide, statistics have shown that there is a great deal of inequality when it comes to our participation. Ninety percent of Internet users do not contribute in social networking systems. Of the ten percent that does contribute, only one percent accounts for the majority of contributions (nine percent only contributing sporadically) (Nielsen, 2006). This clearly demonstrates the fact that many users do not know how to make full use of the Internet. Furthermore, their attention “can be sold off like a sheep to slaughter, as indicated by deals where search engines pay computer vendors millions of dollars to be the default setting on shipping PCs” (Nielsen, 2006). By not exploring various options such as these, less-skilled users are again being left behind. In the future, the Internet needs to become more accommodating and considerate of low-literacy users so we can move forward together.

Reference
Nielsen, Jakob (2006). “Digital Divide: The Three Stages”. URL: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html (accessed 10 May 2008).