Digital divide facts for kids

The digital divide means that some people have much better access to digital technology than others. This includes things like smartphones, tablets, computers, and the internet. When there's a digital divide, it makes other types of unfairness worse, especially when it comes to getting information and important resources. In today's Information Age, people without internet access or other technology are at a big disadvantage. They might find it harder to connect with friends, look for jobs, shop online, or learn new things.

As of 2021, only about half of the world's population could get online. This means 3.7 billion people didn't have internet access. Most of these people live in developing countries, and a large number of them are women. Also, different countries have their own rules about privacy, data, and freedom of speech. These government rules can make it hard for tech companies to offer their services everywhere. This affects different parts of the world unevenly. Europe has the most people online, while Africa has the fewest. For example, from 2010 to 2014, Europe's online population grew from 67% to 75%, but Africa's only went from 10% to 19% in the same time.

How fast your internet connection is also really important. Big cities and towns often have much faster internet than rural areas, which might have slow or no service at all. Sometimes, families can only get internet from one company because it's the only one that serves their area. This happens in countries with developed networks, like the United States, and even more so in developing countries where huge areas have almost no internet coverage. In these places, people can't do much because the main problem is the lack of proper internet cables and towers. New technologies, like satellite internet (for example, Starlink), are becoming more common, but they still aren't available everywhere.

Depending on where you live, an internet connection might be so slow that it's almost useless. This is often because the internet provider hasn't built enough infrastructure in that area. For instance, downloading a 5 GB file in Taiwan might take about 8 minutes. But downloading the same file in Yemen could take 30 hours!

From 2020 to 2022, average internet speeds in the European Union (EU) jumped from 70 Mbps to over 120 Mbps. This was mostly because more people needed digital services during the pandemic. However, there's still a big difference in internet speeds between cities and rural areas. Big cities in France and Denmark can get speeds over 150 Mbps, while many rural areas in Greece, Croatia, and Cyprus have speeds less than 60 Mbps.

The EU hopes to have super-fast gigabit internet everywhere by 2030. But as of 2022, only about 60% of Europe has this high-speed internet infrastructure. This shows that more improvements are still needed.

Why the Digital Divide Exists

The digital divide happens for many reasons. Getting access to and actively using digital tools like computers and the internet is connected to things like how much money people make, their education, race, gender, where they live (city or country), age, skills, and even their attitudes. Studies show that income and education levels are the strongest reasons for differences in who can access and use digital technology.

In developing countries, there's often a digital divide between women and men when it comes to using technology. Men are more likely to be skilled tech users. However, studies have shown that if women have the same income, education, and jobs as men, they actually use digital technology more. This suggests that women are not "naturally" afraid of technology or less tech-savvy. But each country has its own unique reasons for the digital divide. For example, the digital divide in Germany isn't mainly because of poor internet infrastructure.

The link between how much money someone earns and their internet use suggests that the digital divide continues partly because of income differences. Most often, the digital divide comes from poverty and the money problems that stop people from getting or using newer technologies.

Finding Solutions

In 2000, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program started its Online Volunteering service. This program uses digital technology to help people volunteer. It's a great example of how volunteering can help close the digital divide. When more people work together online with development groups, it means more hours are spent helping development efforts without much extra cost. This is a clear benefit of online volunteering for human development.

Since May 17, 2006, the United Nations has worked to make people more aware of the digital divide through World Information Society Day. In 2001, the UN created the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Task Force. Later UN efforts include the World Summit on the Information Society (starting in 2003) and the Internet Governance Forum (set up in 2006).

One way to help is to make digital technology cheaper. This includes creating low-cost devices and offering shared access through places like Telecentres, which are community centers with computers and internet access.

In 2022, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began a process to stop and get rid of "digital discrimination." They want to make sure everyone in the United States has equal access to fast internet, as directed by a law called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Social media websites can both show the digital divide and help fight it. For example, different groups of people use sites like Facebook, WordPress, and Instagram. But these sites also host communities that help connect people who might otherwise be left out.

Libraries Helping Out

A laptop lending kiosk at Texas A&M University–Commerce's Gee Library

In 2010, an "online indigenous digital library" was created in Durban, South Africa. It was part of public library services. This project aimed to close the digital divide by giving people in Durban access to digital resources. It also involved community members in creating the library.

In 2002, the Gates Foundation started the Gates Library Initiative. This program helps libraries by providing training and guidance.

In Kenya, a lack of money, language differences, and not knowing how to use technology led to a general lack of computer skills and slower educational progress. This slowly started to change when foreign groups began investing. In the early 2000s, the Carnegie Foundation funded a project to improve libraries through the Kenya National Library Service. These funds allowed public libraries to offer computers and internet access to their visitors. By 2012, public libraries in the Busia and Kiberia areas introduced technology resources to help primary schools with their lessons. By 2013, this program had grown to include ten schools.

Using Technology Effectively

Even if people can get online, they might face other problems. They might not have the right equipment, or they might not know how to understand or limit the huge amount of information the internet provides. Some people can connect, but they don't have the skills to use the information that digital tools and the internet offer. This means it's important to focus not just on access, but also on teaching skills and raising awareness so people can truly use technology effectively.

Community informatics (CI) focuses on how people "use" technology, not just if they can "access" it. CI wants to make sure that communities not only have access to digital tools but also, as Michael Gurstein says, have the ways to "effectively use" these tools to improve their community and empower themselves. Gurstein also talked about the digital divide to include problems with accessing and using "open data," calling this issue the "data divide."

Images for kids

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  The digital divide measured in terms of bandwidth is not closing, but fluctuating up and down. Gini coefficients for telecommunication capacity (in kbit/s) among individuals worldwide

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  Fixed-line phone and Internet 2000–2010: subscriptions (top) and kbit/s (bottom) per capita

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  A person using a smartphone

See also

In Spanish: Brecha digital para niños