Topic 1 – Chloe's Blog

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My thoughts

Throughout researching this topic I have realised how important internet access is and how this access dramatically affects people’s everyday lives. Having researched digital differences and after viewing my peer’s thoughts, I feel as if I have gained a deeper understanding of inequalities that exist and how this affects many people’s lives on a national or international scale . This is something that I have not really thought about before.

This map shows the variation in internet usage across the world- Source blogspot

Solving the digital divide

However, after reading Tewsdae’s blog I realised that access to the internet does not necessarily guarantee an improvement of in equality. Tewsdae used an interesting example of internet cafes. Whilst internet cafes have improved people’s education and skills, however others have promoted unethical use. (Furuholt & Kristiansen, 2007)I found this point very thought-provoking.

Disabilities and the digital divide

After reading Nathaniel’s comment on my blog I realised that I had not considered how disabilities may affect people’s access and use of the internet. Nathaniel linked my an article which explained that a lady with anxiety and depression learned to use a computer in order to keep in contact with her family, this helped her feel less isolated.

However, using a computer is still something that many disabled people struggle with. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2015, 27% of disabled adults had never used the internet, compared to 11% of non-disabled adults. This shows that there is still a digital divide between disabled and non-disabled people and I believe this is something that is important to reduce in the future.

Conclusion

Overall, I feel as if I have learned a lot whilst researching this topic and reading my peer’s thoughts has opened my eyes to other aspects of the digital divide that I had not previously thought of.

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http://infyinsy.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/facts-about-africa-internet.html

Click to access 5f8e9571ca20b6ae10031da6cd51688733a8.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/29/disabled-people-internet-extra-costs-commission-scope

Inequality can often bring racism, class and gender to mind. However, the digital divide is the economic and social inequality in regard to access to and use of the internet, this is a new emerging type of inequality (Van Djik, 2013). According to Zickuhr and Smith (2012), digital differences refer to the stratification in those who have access to digital technology and the web comparative to those who do not.

Professor Susan Halford states that ‘1/10 people have never used the Internet’, this is usually because many people in the world are unable to afford access to the Internet as they cannot afford a means to do so, for example, an IPad or laptop. This seems shocking and, as more activities are becoming only available online we need to question whether having access to the internet is a basic human right.

When thinking of the digital divide it is understandable to think that there is more internet usage in MEDC’s than LEDC’s, however we must realise that the digital divide also exists within each country, county and town.

Even within in our own society where most people have access to the internet, I still believe there is a divide, with the biggest divide being an age divide. It is interesting to point out that I can already see changes in internet usage of younger people, as rather than playing with toys my 6 year old sister often chooses to play on her IPad instead. This contrasts my childhood at this age as the technology was fairly new and so I did not have access to it. For me, this suggests that internet usage is starting at a younger age.

Overall, after researching this topic I have realised that it is important to be aware of this inequality rather than assuming everyone has the same access to the internet internationally and within the same communities

References

https://www.internetworldstats.com/links10.htm

Click to access PIP_Digital_differences_041312.pdf

https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/70

https://kapokdigital.com/the-art-of-the-possible-for-local-business/

http://maint.tandfonline.com/