On September 26, the "2021 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit" opened in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, and the meeting said: "The Internet continues to expand new frontiers, which has had a profound impact on industrial development, economic structure, social life and international pattern. All countries in the world should jointly maintain the safety and reliability of infrastructure, adhere to the ethics of science and technology, crack down on illegal acts on the Internet, truly protect fair competition and promote innovation, rationally define digital property rights, overcome 'Baumol disease' and 'digital divide', and achieve inclusive growth. "Similar to the speech, the intention is lofty, the height is lofty, and the main points that need to be paid attention to and analyzed are various. Today, we take you through the "digital divide" and its many facets.
What is the digital divide?
In 1990, before the concept of the digital divide was formally introduced, Alvin Toffler proposed the concepts of "info-rich", "info-poor", "information gully" and "electronic divide" in his book "The Transfer of Rights", and pointed out that the "electronic divide" is the "information and electronic technology gap".
In 1995, Lioyd Morrisett, the former president of the Markle Foundation, formally introduced the concept of the digital divide. Then, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a series of reports titled "Falling Behind the Web." The series of reports has continuously enriched and developed the connotation of the digital divide, so that the "digital divide problem" has attracted great attention from international organizations, Governments and the public worldwide.
What are the manifestations of the digital divide?
1. The country-specific digital divide. Globally, the "new economy" that harnesses information technology and knowledge to create value remains a "rich country phenomenon". While digital technologies are rapidly becoming widespread in developing countries, gaps in their adoption persist, with the vast majority of developing countries still at the other end of the digital divide. Especially in backward African countries, the lack of infrastructure has made mobile broadband connections expensive, ultimately limiting the popularity of digital devices. The digital divide is reflected in geography and macroscopic, first and foremost the gap between countries, continents, and regions.
2. Regional digital divide. Affected by geographical conditions, education levels, openness and other factors, the level of regional development within countries varies greatly, and the digital divide will widen the gap between regions. In regions where digital technologies are intensively used, high-income, high-population, and highly skilled, investment in digital technologies is often significantly correlated with wage and job growth, and as a result, widespread deployment of digital devices exacerbates interregional income inequality.
3. The urban-rural digital divide. The urban-rural digital divide that accompanies informatization is an important variable affecting the income gap and integration between urban and rural areas. The urban-rural digital divide prevails worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Since "netizens" have many more ways to profit from going online than "non-netizens", cities are often the biggest beneficiaries of digital dividends in the process of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization. However, due to the backward construction of digital infrastructure and the generally low digital literacy of rural residents, the digital dividend cannot fully benefit rural areas. Eventually, the urban-rural digital divide will create a new divide between the rich and the poor and the Matthew effect in the information age, resulting in a widening gap between urban and rural areas.
4. The gender digital divide. Gender is an important factor in the digital divide. Women are often forced to withdraw from the labour market because they often face burdens such as family care and child-rearing. And women are weaker in terms of network skills than men, so digital technology may increase the gender pay gap. In addition, depending on geographical and social conditions, women face higher barriers to accessing technology and digital financial services, so women are unable to participate fully in the digital economy. It is often assumed that the gender gap will disappear on its own as digital technology becomes widespread in the marketplace, but research shows that there are still more than 200 million fewer women than men around the world who use the online internet.
5. The intergenerational digital divide. The intergenerational digital divide refers to the disadvantages of older persons compared to young people in terms of access and ability to access and use new information technologies. The intergenerational digital divide is both a consequence of inadequate access to information infrastructure and low levels of digital literacy for older groups, as well as of social development and transformation. First, the physical and psychological characteristics and socio-economic factors of the elderly group lead to the disadvantage of the elderly group in the digital economy. Second, the lack of mutual assistance and social support in information technology makes it difficult for the elderly to integrate into the digital economy. Third, the design of modern scientific and technological products has also inhibited the acceptance and use of modern scientific and technological products by the elderly to a certain extent.
What are the trends in the digital divide?
1. Microcosmization of the main body of the digital divide. The digital divide is shifting from emphasizing geospatial differences to emphasizing differences in microscopic individuals. With the continuous improvement of the level of economic development, the difference in the accessibility of digital devices in digital technology at the geospatial level will inevitably gradually narrow. But in contrast, the digital divide at the micro-individual level is gradually widening. With technological progress and the adjustment of economic structure, digital technology will further strengthen the human capital of highly digitally skilled people, making highly skilled workers more productive and benefiting from the impact of digital technology. Low-skilled workers without digital skills will be gradually replaced in the automation of routine tasks. Moreover, because inequalities related to individual characteristics such as gender, age, race, and class are deeply rooted in the fabric of our information or knowledge societies, the widening of the digital divide at the micro-individual level may lead to their perpetuation.
2. The type of digital divide is compounded. The digital divide has gradually evolved into a complex multidimensional phenomenon. When people who lack one type of digital resource also lack other types of digital resources, a "composite digital divide" arises. The main reason for the emergence of the "composite digital divide" is that sequential digital deprivation occurs when one type of digital exclusion leads to another type of exclusion. For example, when a person lacks Internet skills, his Internet usage will be low. For another example, if a person's income is so low that they cannot pay for digital devices and lack the ability to participate in digital economic activities, they cannot use digital technology to increase their income.
3. The impact of the digital divide has deepened. Computer technology is developing so fast that when most people have not yet mastered traditional computer skills, intelligent skills are about to become or have become the basic requirements of occupations. The new knowledge system composed of digital technologies such as big data, Internet of Things, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing will further exacerbate the knowledge gap between the "information rich" and the "information poor" in terms of skills, knowledge, facilities, etc., and bring fundamental changes to the supply side (that is, production relations and production methods), and will also have a subversive impact on the consumer side (that is, people's lifestyles). The "information rich" will have more favorable conditions in the huge social changes (such as smart factories, remote classrooms, etc.) to achieve all-round individual development. As a result, the digital divide in the era of the digital revolution will have a deeper impact on society and individuals.
The pace of technological development is always ahead of the pace of social change, and the times require every international organization, government, the general public and individual enterprises to adapt, accept and change faster and better. In the digital age and the intelligent world, people and countries who do not study hard and master digital technologies will most likely be the largest "poor" and "poor countries".