The pandemic and the widening digital divide (2024)
TECH4GOOD
The internet has allowed everyone, individuals and businesses alike, to cope with the current crisis. Before the pandemic, some may still have viewed the internet as a luxury, but today, it has become vital. The digital highway has allowed us to go on with practically everything that we used to do pre-pandemic and more. And most businesses have shifted to digital business models to maintain operations and sustain some level of revenue flows. It has, therefore, become a basic need during these times. But the pandemic has also raised the bar and is revealing a widening digital divide. And the increased use of digital platforms has also made concerns on privacy and cybersecurity a top priority.
The OECD defines the digital divide as the gap between individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard to both their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the internet for a wide variety of activities. It is a situation that is not just happening in developing countries like the Philippines but, as OECD has highlighted in their latest report, is also a concern among developed countries.
Statista reports that as of December 2019, about 65 percent of the surveyed respondents in the National Capital Region (NCR) of the Philippines were internet users. In contrast, the internet user penetration rate in Mindanao was only about 32 percent. Within Mindanao itself, there is a wide digital divide between urban centers like Davao City and the BARMM provinces. The figures may have significantly changed during the pandemic but I believe the gaps may still be the same.
The digital divide among households appears to depend primarily on several factors like location, income, household size, age, gender, physical ability, and education. In the case of the Philippines, the biggest variables that come into play would be affordability and the availability of internet access points or infrastructure.
The webinar organized two weeks ago by the USAid Better Access and Connectivity Project titled “Better Internet Affordability in the Philippines” highlighted these two issues. It stressed that 40 percent of the total population in the country still finds mobile broadband rates in the country expensive.
The Alliance for Affordable Internet report presented during the webinar, however, reports that Filipino consumers are actually willing to pay for better internet even among low-income households. That came as a big surprise to most of us but, considering the crisis we are in right now, everyone needs a good internet connection to go on with life.
As articulated in my previous article, internet access would allow everyone to benefit from the convenience of using the different platform apps available today. Be it ordering groceries, communicating, getting entertained, learning, banking, access to information most especially those related to COVID-19, and working from home. What used to be activities that you can only do outside of your home have all been made possible by the internet. I have heard stories about how students, especially in the rural areas, are doing everything they can just to be able to connect to their online classes, access school materials, and interact with their teachers and classmates. Some of them have to stay up late in the evening in public plazas just to be able to make use of the Wi-Fi hotspots provided by DICT. What about those in far-flung barangays still waiting for their Wi-Fi hotspots? As countries work to respond and recover from this crisis, this is the moment where we need to start putting the necessary steps in place to bridge the digital gap. It has to be a well-coordinated whole-of-country approach that should result in a situation where the benefits of digital transformation will really be inclusive. The government can start by putting an inclusive digital transformation program at the front and center of its policy agenda.
Sad to say, I still have to really hear any of the presidential candidates talk about their digital transformation programs and agenda. They all should be mindful that developing a robust Philippine digital economy is the only way for us to effectively compete in the global economy. And in order to help achieve that, we need to have a more dynamic internet infrastructure industry. We should allow even the small regional players to provide more options to our internet users.
And that can only be achieved if our Congress passes the proposed Open Access in Data Transmission Act.
We should also give DICT a bigger budget like 10 times their current budget. We need the government to build its honest-to-goodness national internet backbone and make it available to all the players, big and small.
It is also unlikely that our society will return to a “pre-pandemic” old normal. This crisis has shown everyone the power of the internet and the potential of digital platforms. These changes will be very difficult to reverse. From here on, jobs, government services, education, health, social interaction, and business will be very dependent on the internet and digital technologies. Failing to understand that and not doing anything to bridge the digital divide would hinder our country’s effort to emerge stronger from the pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic made the internet a necessity for millions of Americans to complete their schooling
schooling
Education is the transmission of knowledge, skills, and character traits and manifests in various forms. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum.
, do their work and monitor their health — but it also widened preexisting access gaps, leaving millions of Americans, particularly those in BIPOC communities, struggling to access this vital resource.
In the pre-COVID era, the digital divide mainly contributed to achievement gaps through access to resources outside of school, but the switch to remote learning during the pandemic possibly brought the effects of the digital divide to learning within school as well since schools moving to remote learning rely on access ...
The consequences of the digital divide include isolation, which can affect mental health, educational barriers as postsecondary education increasingly moves online, and worsening gender discrimination.
A considerable part of workers began to develop their activities at home. There was a reduction in physical activity, leading to an increase in sedentary behavior time. People spent more hours on TV and the internet. Constant too were changes in eating habits(2).
The digital divide has deepened social stratification, leading to further segregation and widening disparities. It is thus important for organizations, governments, and other institutions to invest in digital literacy initiatives to close these gaps and improve outcomes for all individuals.
At a high level, the digital divide is the gap between those with Internet access and those without it. But the digital divide is multifaceted and includes many factors such as access, affordability, quality, and relevance.
Most commonly, a digital divide stems from poverty and the economic barriers that limit resources and prevent people from obtaining or otherwise using newer technologies.
These include the cost of devices and services for connecting to the Internet, impeding access for low-income earners; insufficient knowledge and skills to use the necessary devices and technologies easily; and the difficulty in implementing infrastructures that facilitate the adoption of ICTs in certain areas.
The digital divide can be closed by implementing digital inclusion policies, programs and tools that incorporate the following: Affordable, robust broadband internet service. Internet-enabled devices that meet the needs of the user. Access to digital literacy training.
There's a major gap between people who can access and use digital technology and those who can't. This is called the digital divide, and it's getting worse as 3.7 billion people across the globe remain unconnected. But what causes the digital divide, and how can we stop it?
The digital divide also disproportionately affects Native American, Black, and Latinx students. Rural communities face educational disadvantages due to the limited availability of broadband internet access.
Even though the pandemic drove hundreds of millions of people online, the gap between internet usage in the most and least developed economies has shrunk by only three percentage points between 2017 and 2021.
The digital divide has contributed significantly to stratification in the community whereby there arises a class of persons with access to the internet and another class unable to use the ICT services either due to affordability issues or literacy levels.
The pandemic accelerated adoption of digital technologies and shielded productivity. However, with persistent gaps across countries and sectors, policymakers must seize the moment and take steps to continue closing the digitalization gap and ensure that the gains from digitalization are broadly shared.
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the nature of social interaction, creating negative impacts and challenges, but also opportunities for progressing how we communicate, as humans. Social distancing policies, lockdown measures, and mandatory quarantines accelerated technological communication.
The COVID-19 Pandemic has altered human existence's political, environmental, and economic elements, which affect psychological growth and sustainability. This impacts people's living standards and quality of life. The COVID-19 era resulted in social problems and international crises in the early 2020's (30).
Introduction: My name is Velia Krajcik, I am a handsome, clean, lucky, gleaming, magnificent, proud, glorious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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