IMPROVING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The Importance of Improving the Digital Divide between All Countries of Different Socio-Economic Climates



The Importance of Improving the Digital Divide between All Countries of Different Socio-Economic Climates

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the drastic advancements in information technology have brought with it a digital divide phenomenon. The digital divide has become a central problem of the contemporary world, which is considered associated with the information revolution. The digital divide refers to the concept of inequalities between the knowledge and use of information and communication technologies (ICT's) in the people that belong to different regions or countries. There is a significant digital divide between the developed and developing countries that is believed to play a role in their socio economic conditions. The paper discusses some of the major consequences of the global digital divide, and the importance and benefits of improving the digital divide between all countries.

Introduction

The digital divide between the countries of different socio economic conditions results in the inequalities in people from the perspective of ICT and internet facilities. It splits the developed countries from the developing ones, introducing an invisible boundary between them. The internet access and ICT have advanced drastically in the developed countries while not in the developing ones (Guillen, M. F. and Suarez, S. L. 2005, p. 681). Today, when the people of developed countries enjoy the access to broadband internet services and advanced information and communication infrastructure, the people of developing or less developed countries don't have access to the basic and necessary ICT resources and internet use.

In the age of technology, according to the human rights, all the countries in world must have a uniform access to the information and communication resources. This uniformity will lead to the major benefits for all of the countries with different socio economic climates. Next section of the paper discusses the major issues caused by the digital divide.

Digital Divide: Issues

The digital divide problem causes serious issues for all the nations, even in the most developed regions such as Europe (Dawn, 2012). The non uniform access to the information and communication infrastructure leads to the serious issues, such as providing little or no opportunities of global business and communication.

Most importantly, the digital divide has serious consequences on the developing (third world) nations. They fall much behind in the industries of education, business and tourism as compared to the developing countries. These countries lack in the basic information and communication technologies such as use of handheld communication devices including mobile phones and PDA's, ecommerce and social networking facilities, internet access in homes, offices, schools or libraries. The countries with different socio economic countries have great difference in their education, research and business opportunities, as most of such opportunities rely on the internet technologies nowadays.

Digital divide is also termed as technological gap, as it introduces a gap between the nations in their abilities to access and share each other's technical or other knowledge (United Nations, 2006, pp.3). Due to the presence of digital divide between ...