Stage 3 – The Digital Divide

The digital divide refers to the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and with those without the access. (Source: www.wikipedia.co.uk)

Causes of the divide

One of the causes for the digital divide is the fact that people who live in countries such as Africa don’t have the technology and the economic stability to provide its people with technology such as basic computers, mobile phones, telephones and televisions.
Subsequently the effects of this lack in technology lead to the lack in education from internet services and communication between friends and family via the mobile phone or the internet.

Another cause of the digital divide is where the people are situated, because if they are situated in a place such as the Sahara, it would be difficult to get connected because of the remoteness of the location. Also if you live in a mountainous region such Andorra it maybe hard to get the signals needed to provide the people with the cables and signals they need to get connected.

Also people’s social lives may be a cause for the divide, because people who live in a less economically developed world may only be interested in putting food on the table for them and their family and not about getting connected to the internet, which will waste some of the little money they earn anyway.

Another reason for the divide maybe that older people are scared of the technology used today, because it may all seem very complicated to them because they haven’t grown up with it and they are set in their ways of doing all their paper work by hand.






Lack of motivation.

Older people might have a lack of motivation to start using the online services because of a number of reasons, such as the cost of setting up the service and buying the computer in the first place, also the thought of having to learn about an entirely new world of technology might be daunting. Also people who live in countries that are poor don’t see the internet as an important service because it doesn’t help put food on the table. Also the cost of setting up the internet in these countries is quite severe for the people who live there because they only earn around 60p per day.






The extent of the problem

The extent of the problem is massive, fewer than 2% of people are connected to the internet and more than 80% have never heard a dialling tone before. These people are located in areas of the world where poverty is a big problem, also countries such as Burkina Faso and many African countries are not connected.
The extent of the problem is gradually reducing, due to MEDW’s and other companies such as Microsoft going out of their way to try to help.
(Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/10/99/information_rich_information_poor/472621.stm)

What are they missing?

People who don’t have this service for which ever reason are missing out on lots of services, such as entertainment including games and downloads, commerce including banking and shopping, communication services such as msn messenger and email and educational services such as bite size and VLE’s.
Companies which do not have access to the internet are also missing out on the opportunity to promote more products to a wider spectrum of people, and make more profit. This is an example of an economic effect.

The effects of the problem.

The problem of the digital divide affect many different people in many different ways.
For example if a bank does not have access to the internet, then they can’t provide services to help their customers, this kind of problem comes under economic effects.
If someone cannot access the internet then they miss out on the ability to communicate with friends and family via msn messenger and email services.
Education may also be affected by the lack of internet access, because you can learn a lot from specialized internet sites such as VLE’s.
Having internet access can change the culture or a population, may be by sending out letters and other things over the internet.


What is being done about the digital divide?

Some companies such as Microsoft have developed $100 laptops to make it more affordable for people living in poorer countries to bridge the gap between the digital divide.
Also huge grants are going out to LEDW’s from MEDW’s, to try and support education for people who live in places such as Africa and Asia.

What else could be done?

Charity events could be held across Europe and North America to raise money, then with the money raised buy and send computers to schools in L.E.D.W’s to help advance their learning.

The advantages of narrowing the digital divide.

The advantages could be enormous, because top scientists in other countries could easily communicate with top scientists say in the UK, and share their ideas, which could dramatically increase the speed at which new technologies are developed.
Also the speed at which knowledge and other ideas and thoughts could be shared would be dramatically increased, and the world as a whole could advance much quicker.


Possible drawbacks of narrowing the digital divide.

Some possible drawbacks of narrowing the digital divide include;
When the technology of computers reaches the third world countries they will need to use electricity to power their gadgets, this will contribute to global warming and possibly more power stations will be built, for example China is building a coal powered electricity producing station every week to meet demands which will add massively to global warming.
Another possible drawback of narrowing the divide is, that people who are already highly involved in the technology age may feel as if they are earning relatively less money because people from these third world countries are starting to earn more money and closing the gap between the national GDP.