The Digital Divide
Digital Divide is an inequality between groups, broadly construed, in terms of access to, use of, or knowledge of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
· A discussion about 3 factors which contribute to the digital divide:
In the current society we live in, it is a little bit complicated to determine the digital divide for certain countries. For example Qatar, of course all rich people have internet access and skills to use the computer, but not all poor people don’t have internet access, some may have computer skills as well. So it’s not just the rich, but also some poor people who have those technologies. One of the reasons is because certain technology like ipad, laptops or internet access has become a need instead of a want, making it part of their lives, so some (poor) people may try to save money to have internet access by reducing the food they buy or use other strategies to get what they “want”. Another reason may be is that the country itself is very trade dependent because it’s focus is to increase economies since it’s a developing country, and with the current generation, things are all computerized to make things more efficient, therefor for some people, in order to perform their job correctly, they need access to the internet for communication, search for information and to send and receive/save documents. Otherwise, they would not be able to complete the tasks given to them, which lead to lack of output/efficiency on a department which leads to slowing down the business, therefore gives them the risk of getting fired due to lack of performance.
Fear of technology is quite common in some region around the world. Fear of technology usually may be the cause of “change”, some people are used to following their traditions, following the footsteps of their ancestors and passing the life style and their teachings to the next generation and the next. An example may be Japan in some areas away from cities and towns or back in samurai times, this way they know what will happen next, but introducing something new to their cycle will change it, therefore they no longer know what to expect so the future is a mystery for them and that’s what is keeping them from developing in certain region, fear of the unknown. Furthermore it could change their society, which could permanently damage or even erase their tradition and their country will no longer be known of what it’s originally know as, it’ll just be another country that’s following the planet’s footsteps (becoming just like any other country around the world) it would no longer be unique. As for those who do have computers, they tend to be more open to new paths, prepared for the unexpected because they’re always trying out new things; new problems to be solved and they are definitely more educated. The reason why is that all the knowledge you wish to learn is right in front your very eyes and palms, type anything you wish to see or learn, you name it, and the knowledge that people share will appear right at your seat. Varieties are vastly open, there are no limits to the modern technologies, whatever exists on this planet, and you can get it with just a click of a button.
Lack of motivation is a major issue is many countries. This can still be part of the “fear of technologies” because almost everything are now computerized to simply make things tidier, more efficient and most of all, easier! Technology is continuously developing and it will never be put to a stop, simply because we want the better. This opens many doors of questions in terms of health, addiction and laziness. Since technology makes things easier for us, we tend to let go of the old method and move on to an easier and more efficient way to work with and this is where the “fear of technology” comes in; in terms of “tradition”, because we’re letting go of the old methods in the developing process for the better. As I have mentioned earlier that technology continuously develops to make things more and more easier, we become less and less active simply because there are less steps to be done until ten steps becomes one to complete the same task, the less active we are, the weaker we become, and for some people, the weaker they are the lazier they become due to lack of motivation because of they need to put much more effort in doing other things, but another reason for lack motivation due to the simplification of work done by technology because they no longer need to work hard which is the reason why they abandoned their genuine way of life. Everything is done for us thanks to computers. Technologies also make “entertainments” more entertaining, but certain things has become too entertaining (or may be due to their life style) that it has erased other healthy/more physical activities in their lives till it eventually became an addiction, therefore what use to be a want (something that is optional to have) becomes a need, a crucial thing to be part of their lives.
· The impact/extent of the digital divide in terms of:
Education, the majority of the population of all developed and developing countries have either computers or laptops and some have both as well. They are following the path of technology and some are up to date with the most advance technologies to further their development and speed it up, not just for technologies but also for the country’s economy, living standards, basically the development of the country itself! One of the best ways of development is to put the focus on educating the new generation for they are the future leaders. In some countries like Japan in this decade, the people have the most recent and most advance technologies to educate the young and they educate them in a way to make their learning as entertaining as it possibly could, this will not only educate the students but also motivate them to learn and powers up their curiosity which eventually will make them self-dependent. Books are slowly disappearing, everything is becoming electronic, instead of books and bags to carry around for each subject, all students now carry just a laptop, iPad or any similar portable devices because all what you need is stored in its hard-drive therefore there’s no more excesses of forgetting certain items at home or anywhere else, it’s just one thing you can have all day long, small, portable, you can always have a clean tidy work space and no more carrying heavy load which is also a health benefit preventing back pain and incorrect posture. Not only students but also teachers as well, and due to internet access, all the information you want to research is right at your desk, no more visiting libraries in search for the right book with the right information, not to mention the transportation and traffic jam which is very time consuming, everything is ready for use! Projectors are available in all classes and this puts many advantages for both students and teachers. This gives the ability for teachers to teach more than one method of learning, students who are visual learners will no longer have difficulty learning certain things because now teachers can demonstrate their teachings in animations and video clips as well as text, diagrams and graphs. Even if some students don’t understand, the teacher can search for the same information on websites in which other people explain it in a different way to help them understand more.
As for countries that are under-developed like those in the central African countries, many, if not all, lack knowledge in a serious condition. In some areas, they have no type of any technology whatsoever, stranded in a country with scarce resources and polluted water. Due to the lack of education, they are unable to find solutions to their crises, some drink and eat polluted drinks and food out of starvation and some have no idea about sickness at all and interacts with anything he/she can find. When people get sick, it’s already over for them, they will suffer from the sickness and because there is no medication, the sickness develops, those who survive are lucky, but many of them don’t even reach the teenage stage of their live from their poor conditions. But another example in Brazil, despite the poor living standard, they do have some technologies and they are more educated than those in central Africa, and with the little knowledge they have there, they are still able to develop. As long as you have a starting line, you can make progress no matter how little it is. Brazil depends on their primary sector of trading, which is the extraction of raw materials and growing food, in many big farms, with this to feed the people and export goods to sell to other countries, and by gathering the little money they earn, they further improve their farms to make more output which increase their income and so the cycle repeats and grow over and over till eventually there’s enough food for everyone and to make trades to also import goods to develop the country as well. The people of Brazil are having more and more ideas in building construction; entertainments etc till it eventually became an attraction to tourist which helps the local economies due to tourist spending money in Brazil and so on and so forth. As mentioned earlier, as long as you have a starting line, no matter how small, it can make a big change in each individual’s life.
· The extent of the divide
I think the digital divide is narrowing, not a single country should have a widening digital divide unless they are at war, or they have a mass population crisis that a country simply can’t support them all. An example would be China, who has introduced the “One Child Policy”, where the government will only support one child of each family; any more the parents will have to deal with. It is impossible to stop the population from growing because this is part of the human nature. Therefore despite the population has not ceased in “China” but reduced the speed of population growth, the digital divide is still narrowing.
· Measures being taken to narrow the gap.
As I have mentioned earlier about the “One Child Policy” in China, that policy is somewhat working for them. This greatly reduced the speed of their growing population because now people will be more careful of their decisions due to their wealth. Because China already have an enormous population which is already hard to take care of, but after many years following this policy, the country’s GDP gradually increased because they were able to spend more of their money in economies and in development of the country. So this policy is working quite well now, they are able to provide the people’s needs and support one of each family in china for their education, paying all their education fees. I can’t see another way to reduce the gap of the digital divide, as I have said, it is part of human nature and it cannot be stopped. Governments all around the world need to develop their businesses to be able to support ALL of their people, and it all starts by educating the children properly, they will invent and introduce new ideas to make the life of their country better, and so does the next generation and the next if each generation are educated properly as I have talked about earlier in “The impact/extent of the digital divide”.
The benefits of reducing the gap of the digital divide are:
· More people are connected to the world.
· More people are aware of political, technical, environmental etc problems.
· New ideas can be introduced as we are not all the same nor think alike.
· More educated people means more man power, as the internet if full of knowledge.
The Disadvantages are:
· Some people may use these technologies against others for their own gain.
· Developments of hacking
· A discussion about 3 factors which contribute to the digital divide:
In the current society we live in, it is a little bit complicated to determine the digital divide for certain countries. For example Qatar, of course all rich people have internet access and skills to use the computer, but not all poor people don’t have internet access, some may have computer skills as well. So it’s not just the rich, but also some poor people who have those technologies. One of the reasons is because certain technology like ipad, laptops or internet access has become a need instead of a want, making it part of their lives, so some (poor) people may try to save money to have internet access by reducing the food they buy or use other strategies to get what they “want”. Another reason may be is that the country itself is very trade dependent because it’s focus is to increase economies since it’s a developing country, and with the current generation, things are all computerized to make things more efficient, therefor for some people, in order to perform their job correctly, they need access to the internet for communication, search for information and to send and receive/save documents. Otherwise, they would not be able to complete the tasks given to them, which lead to lack of output/efficiency on a department which leads to slowing down the business, therefore gives them the risk of getting fired due to lack of performance.
Fear of technology is quite common in some region around the world. Fear of technology usually may be the cause of “change”, some people are used to following their traditions, following the footsteps of their ancestors and passing the life style and their teachings to the next generation and the next. An example may be Japan in some areas away from cities and towns or back in samurai times, this way they know what will happen next, but introducing something new to their cycle will change it, therefore they no longer know what to expect so the future is a mystery for them and that’s what is keeping them from developing in certain region, fear of the unknown. Furthermore it could change their society, which could permanently damage or even erase their tradition and their country will no longer be known of what it’s originally know as, it’ll just be another country that’s following the planet’s footsteps (becoming just like any other country around the world) it would no longer be unique. As for those who do have computers, they tend to be more open to new paths, prepared for the unexpected because they’re always trying out new things; new problems to be solved and they are definitely more educated. The reason why is that all the knowledge you wish to learn is right in front your very eyes and palms, type anything you wish to see or learn, you name it, and the knowledge that people share will appear right at your seat. Varieties are vastly open, there are no limits to the modern technologies, whatever exists on this planet, and you can get it with just a click of a button.
Lack of motivation is a major issue is many countries. This can still be part of the “fear of technologies” because almost everything are now computerized to simply make things tidier, more efficient and most of all, easier! Technology is continuously developing and it will never be put to a stop, simply because we want the better. This opens many doors of questions in terms of health, addiction and laziness. Since technology makes things easier for us, we tend to let go of the old method and move on to an easier and more efficient way to work with and this is where the “fear of technology” comes in; in terms of “tradition”, because we’re letting go of the old methods in the developing process for the better. As I have mentioned earlier that technology continuously develops to make things more and more easier, we become less and less active simply because there are less steps to be done until ten steps becomes one to complete the same task, the less active we are, the weaker we become, and for some people, the weaker they are the lazier they become due to lack of motivation because of they need to put much more effort in doing other things, but another reason for lack motivation due to the simplification of work done by technology because they no longer need to work hard which is the reason why they abandoned their genuine way of life. Everything is done for us thanks to computers. Technologies also make “entertainments” more entertaining, but certain things has become too entertaining (or may be due to their life style) that it has erased other healthy/more physical activities in their lives till it eventually became an addiction, therefore what use to be a want (something that is optional to have) becomes a need, a crucial thing to be part of their lives.
· The impact/extent of the digital divide in terms of:
Education, the majority of the population of all developed and developing countries have either computers or laptops and some have both as well. They are following the path of technology and some are up to date with the most advance technologies to further their development and speed it up, not just for technologies but also for the country’s economy, living standards, basically the development of the country itself! One of the best ways of development is to put the focus on educating the new generation for they are the future leaders. In some countries like Japan in this decade, the people have the most recent and most advance technologies to educate the young and they educate them in a way to make their learning as entertaining as it possibly could, this will not only educate the students but also motivate them to learn and powers up their curiosity which eventually will make them self-dependent. Books are slowly disappearing, everything is becoming electronic, instead of books and bags to carry around for each subject, all students now carry just a laptop, iPad or any similar portable devices because all what you need is stored in its hard-drive therefore there’s no more excesses of forgetting certain items at home or anywhere else, it’s just one thing you can have all day long, small, portable, you can always have a clean tidy work space and no more carrying heavy load which is also a health benefit preventing back pain and incorrect posture. Not only students but also teachers as well, and due to internet access, all the information you want to research is right at your desk, no more visiting libraries in search for the right book with the right information, not to mention the transportation and traffic jam which is very time consuming, everything is ready for use! Projectors are available in all classes and this puts many advantages for both students and teachers. This gives the ability for teachers to teach more than one method of learning, students who are visual learners will no longer have difficulty learning certain things because now teachers can demonstrate their teachings in animations and video clips as well as text, diagrams and graphs. Even if some students don’t understand, the teacher can search for the same information on websites in which other people explain it in a different way to help them understand more.
As for countries that are under-developed like those in the central African countries, many, if not all, lack knowledge in a serious condition. In some areas, they have no type of any technology whatsoever, stranded in a country with scarce resources and polluted water. Due to the lack of education, they are unable to find solutions to their crises, some drink and eat polluted drinks and food out of starvation and some have no idea about sickness at all and interacts with anything he/she can find. When people get sick, it’s already over for them, they will suffer from the sickness and because there is no medication, the sickness develops, those who survive are lucky, but many of them don’t even reach the teenage stage of their live from their poor conditions. But another example in Brazil, despite the poor living standard, they do have some technologies and they are more educated than those in central Africa, and with the little knowledge they have there, they are still able to develop. As long as you have a starting line, you can make progress no matter how little it is. Brazil depends on their primary sector of trading, which is the extraction of raw materials and growing food, in many big farms, with this to feed the people and export goods to sell to other countries, and by gathering the little money they earn, they further improve their farms to make more output which increase their income and so the cycle repeats and grow over and over till eventually there’s enough food for everyone and to make trades to also import goods to develop the country as well. The people of Brazil are having more and more ideas in building construction; entertainments etc till it eventually became an attraction to tourist which helps the local economies due to tourist spending money in Brazil and so on and so forth. As mentioned earlier, as long as you have a starting line, no matter how small, it can make a big change in each individual’s life.
· The extent of the divide
I think the digital divide is narrowing, not a single country should have a widening digital divide unless they are at war, or they have a mass population crisis that a country simply can’t support them all. An example would be China, who has introduced the “One Child Policy”, where the government will only support one child of each family; any more the parents will have to deal with. It is impossible to stop the population from growing because this is part of the human nature. Therefore despite the population has not ceased in “China” but reduced the speed of population growth, the digital divide is still narrowing.
· Measures being taken to narrow the gap.
As I have mentioned earlier about the “One Child Policy” in China, that policy is somewhat working for them. This greatly reduced the speed of their growing population because now people will be more careful of their decisions due to their wealth. Because China already have an enormous population which is already hard to take care of, but after many years following this policy, the country’s GDP gradually increased because they were able to spend more of their money in economies and in development of the country. So this policy is working quite well now, they are able to provide the people’s needs and support one of each family in china for their education, paying all their education fees. I can’t see another way to reduce the gap of the digital divide, as I have said, it is part of human nature and it cannot be stopped. Governments all around the world need to develop their businesses to be able to support ALL of their people, and it all starts by educating the children properly, they will invent and introduce new ideas to make the life of their country better, and so does the next generation and the next if each generation are educated properly as I have talked about earlier in “The impact/extent of the digital divide”.
The benefits of reducing the gap of the digital divide are:
· More people are connected to the world.
· More people are aware of political, technical, environmental etc problems.
· New ideas can be introduced as we are not all the same nor think alike.
· More educated people means more man power, as the internet if full of knowledge.
The Disadvantages are:
· Some people may use these technologies against others for their own gain.
· Developments of hacking