COVID-19 has forced people to keep their distance from one another. This has been a huge hindrance since a lot of social activities depended on interactions in person. Fortunately, the problem has been partially alleviated by “turning social activities online”.
Jobs, education, commerce, and social gatherings have all been able to continue remotely with the utilization of the internet, lowering the chance of infection. However, this “online
transition” of social activities is making the world extremely digitally dependent, and those that are left “offline” are sometimes left out of fundamental social activities. In other
words, the “digital divide” is becoming a bigger problem.
Simply put, the digital divide is the uneven distribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in society. Due to this inequality, a gap appears between the people who benefit from ICTs and the people who do not. While the term was coined in the 1990s, the recent transformation of societies enlarged its impact. The gap no longer remains just at the ability or availability to use the internet. It extends to the point where the accessibility to ICTs results in financial, medical, and even educational disparities. For example, educations conducted online cause difficulties to some people, or even exclude them in some cases. Children that live in places where the infrastructure for an internet connection is insufficient are excluded from their fundamental education.
Disabled students also have to go through difficulties in using additional devices for their education, both physically and financially1).
Although not the sole, money is a major cause of the digital divide. Companies that provide internet connection make less profit when they build infrastructures in places where the population density is low. This results in a digital gap between people living in rural areas and people living in cities. The same is applied to devices or internet plan services. People who are unable to afford such necessities are and will be excluded from many essential services.
However, the society cannot rely on or expect companies to voluntarily act to solve the problems. Hence, governments should allocate sufficient capital to bridge the digital divide. It should subsidize companies that provide infrastructure for rural areas and design a system supporting or lending digital devices for those in need of it. Regularly examining its policies is also an essential process. Along with this, the government should conduct
or actively finance research identifying the status quo and causes of the digital divide. Although the article focused on the economical cause, digital divide is a further more complex problem. Culture, psychological approaches, and proficiency of digital usage all have a relation to the cause of the digital divide.
One of the developmental goals of ICT is to make the world a more equal place. However, the goal can only be achieved when everyone has access to it. Our goal should be to make sure that happens.
1) Detailed difficulties of disabled students in Konkuk University is illustrated in the Bulletin Comment of The Konkuk Bulletin Vol. 299.