Access To Technology

Access to Communication and Technology

Nowadays, we usually think of media technologies, the Internet, and smart devices when we hear the word technology. However, medieval inventions of agricultural tools were just as much 'technology' as the smartphone or artificial intelligence.

Fig. 1 - Agricultural tools were as much technology as smartphones.

Technology has always transformed to accommodate varying human habits and social patterns. It has made many things easier for people, but it also created new problems society needed to figure out how to deal with.

One of the most significant issues with technology is that not everyone has access to it. Sociologists claim technology has contributed to the deepening of other social inequalities based on gender, age, race, and social class. This is what we call technological stratification.

Equal Access to Technology Nationally and Globally

How does technological stratification appear on the national and international levels?

On the national level, technology has the potential to both widen inequality and improve it. If rural areas and underprivileged groups had access to new technology, such as the Internet, they could catch up to urban centers and ruling groups. However, when this access is not provided, society becomes further divided into those who possess the information and knowledge necessary for progress and those who do not.

Globally, we are dealing with a similar situation. Technology can help less industrialized countries to catch up to economically leading nations. However, if less developed countries fail to access the latest technology, they will likely fall further behind, and economic inequality will increase.

Sociologists distinguish between two forms of technological stratification. The first one is the so-called digital divide, and the second one is the knowledge gap.

Access to Digital Technology: The Digital Divide

The term ‘digital divide’ was first used by Vice President Al Gore in a speech in 1996. After this, it was included in the common lexicon, and scholars and laypeople used it too.

In the 1990s, computer owners increased from around 300,000 to 10 million (Rappaport, 2009). It was a privilege, though, to use a personal computer.

Sociologists have noted that all over the world, people of low-income households, ethnic minorities, and rural areas have had limited access to the latest technologies compared to others. Citizens of developing countries have also been less privileged in their access to technology than citizens of developed countries.

A Natural End to the Digital Divide?

The 2000s brought much more affordable technology. Computers and other electronic devices became cheaper, and it seemed that people of low-income households and countries were also going to be able to afford to own them. It seemed that the digital divide was going to end naturally.

Unfortunately, this is not what studies so far have shown.

Fig. 2 - In the 2000s, computers and laptops became more affordable, which seemed to bring a natural end to the digital divide.

Access to the Internet and technology in America still varies according to race, class, age, geographical location, and even gender (slightly). Even when marginalized people have access to technology, they usually are not using the latest technological inventions. For example, they often used dial-up service rather than broadband, or broadband rather than wireless Internet.

The digital divide is now closely connected to Internet access. Rural areas usually have less developed infrastructure, which does not provide access to high-speed Internet. Cities and urban areas are in a much better position regarding this.

The global digital divide

The digital divide is especially visible today in developing countries. Statistics from the 2000s show that only 4 percent of Africa’s population has access to the Internet. The Internet this small group of people has access to is incredibly slow, even though they pay the most for it worldwide. They pay around $250 to $300 each month.

The United Nations issued a call for digital solidarity in 2005, targeting this specific issue. Their goal was to provide Internet access to at least 65% of African hospitals, government agencies, and educational institutions by 2012. The project was sadly not successful (The Economist 2007b; Global Digital Solidarity Fund 2008; Pew Internet Project 2009; P. Schaefer 2008).

Lack of Easy Access to Information Through Technology: The Knowledge Gap

The digital divide created the second form of technological stratification, the knowledge gap.

People who have limited access to technology, in particular to the Internet, find it challenging to keep up to date with the news and have fewer opportunities to educate themselves and learn new things. Nowadays, as many academic lectures and career workshops are provided online, people with no or limited access to the Internet are immediately excluded from these educational opportunities.

Student Access to Technology

The knowledge gap can start at a very young age. Children who start learning about e-readiness early have more chances to get into better-equipped schools and universities later that can provide further education about and access to technology. This often determines one’s career opportunities and advances in the future.

Effects of Lack of Access to Technology

What are the consequences of the digital divide and the knowledge gap?

The Internet, new media, and other technologies are becoming essential in people’s work and everyday lives. We need it to participate in our work, education, family life, and hobbies.

Fig. 3 - We need the Internet for many aspects of our lives, from work to entertainment.

The list of things accessible online now is endless, and technology is developing at an ever-increasing rate. Virtual reality, for example, is also very much part of the human experience, and already artificial intelligence is becoming more and more natural and necessary.

Given all of the above, it is a massive difficulty when someone does not have Internet access or has it in a limited way.

People in rural areas have fewer opportunities to develop skills in online courses and find work somewhere other than their hometowns.

Older people, who are not so e-ready, find it challenging to keep up with technological developments and might suffer from this in their careers or their personal lives.

The Pew Research Center (2011) found that minority ethnic groups in America use smaller devices to access the Internet, which are less suitable for writing resumes and sending job applications than laptops or computers. Thus, they are in a less privileged position when applying for jobs. That can worsen job inequality among different ethnic groups in the US.

In terms of the global digital divide and knowledge gap, developing countries are struggling to catch up with the economy of developed nations.