I’ve
grown up knowing that there is a line separating the rich and the poor, the
young and the old, the educated and the uneducated, the employed and the unemployed
as well as those that earn high income and those that don’t but I didn’t
realise the extent to which this division also exceedingly exist in the digital
world! I’ve learnt that our demographic characteristics affect our opportunity
to have access to or use the internet, making us either fortunate or
disadvantaged.
I’m
neither rich nor poor. I’m in my 30s, studying at university, working on a full time basis
and earning a moderate income. I have access to the internet at home, at work,
at university and anywhere there is Wi-Fi connection; using several devices I own as well
as the ones provided by the aforementioned premises. However, I know that some
of my family or friends experience varying circumstances. In Australia alone,
only 86% have access to the internet in 2014-2015, whilst only 85% of 15+ year
olds use the internet. 94% of ACT residents are connected to the internet whereas
only 85% of NSW residents are connected. Moreover, 66% of low income households
compared to 98% of high income households have internet connection. 77% of
those that studied up to Year 12 use the internet compared to 96% of Bachelor
degree holders (The Conversation, 2016).
It
seems as if the rich are getting richer and the poor are losing out. First of
all, people who can afford to buy technological devices and have internet
connection are obviously better off than those who can’t. Secondly, individuals
possessing modern devices, up-to-date software and faster connection enjoy more
opportunity to search the internet than others. Finally, those that have access
to the internet and have more experience with it are better skilled and are
capable of making use of the internet in a more complex way to locate better information
than those who don’t (Hargittai, 2003).
It’s very interesting to discuss the split between the advantaged middle school students’
access and use of internet in comparison to their lesser counterpart. Children
that have insufficient access are only able to use the internet for a short
time, which inhibits their chance to learn better online skills or obtain satisfactory
information for their school work. In contrast, the advantaged experiences unlimited
internet access. Unfortunately, this not only means obtaining useful online skills
and vast online information, but it also provides children the option to stay online
for an extended period of time for other activities apart from studying, that
it’s becoming detrimental to their educational performance (Robinson et al, 2015). Which of the two situations would you rather your kids to experience?
Unmistakably,
there are numerous ways in which our demographic attributes shape our digital participation
and the benefits we can acquire through our use of the internet. I wonder if
this discussion makes people reconsider whether having the ability to have
internet access is actually beneficial or is it only paving way to amplifying
the inequality we are experiencing in the society; offline and online.
