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Impact Of Ict
Impact Of Ict
THE FACTORS affecting digital divide in the modern day
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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides developing countries unprecedented potentials to initiate a catch-up process towards developed countries. It supplies efficient means to increase productivity, helps to integrate economies in the world market, delivers better education possibilities and improves healthcare services. ICT accounts for half of the productivity growth in modern economies (Reding, 2005).
Rich countries are definitely better able to exploit ICT than poor countries; “inequalities in access to ICT are still around twice average levels of income inequality” (UNCTAD, 2005). This is partially due to a more favourable economic starting position but other factors are at play. Nevertheless, potentials to reduce the gap through clever adoption of ICT exist together with successful examples. Policies and how policies are implemented by governments are the key factors to achieve this ambitious goal.
In the mid-1990s, under the Clinton administration the term “digital divide” came into regular usage. The term refers to the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and those without access (Warschauer, 2003).
The adoption of new technologies requires investments; a quick glance at GDP data allows to draw a line separating countries that can afford ICT and countries that cannot: diffusion is clearly influenced by economic factors. However, in spite of such evidence, wealth distribution alone cannot account for the whole digital divide. The consideration that countries with similar economic conditions show significant differences in ICT adoption rates has drawn scholars’ attention to other factors such as cultural and social aspects. It is important to consider these factors in defining policies to bridge the digital divide.
The digital divide can be broken up in three major components:
Economic divide
Socio-cultural divide
Education divide
Economic divide
The current distribution of ICT outputs (appliances and applications to consumers) is openly unequal. Considering for example the Index of Technological Progress (Rodriguez and Wilson, 1999) which combines television sets, mobile phones, personal computers, internet hosts, fax machines, R&D as percentage of GDP, technicians, scientists and telephone mainlines, it is apparent that rich countries are far better off than poor ones: the top ten economies in the ITP world ranking are all OECD members while the bottom 10 economies are all in sub-Saharan Africa.
This distribution is confirmed by more recent data on internet penetration, broadband subscribers, mobile network and 3G services: Europe and the Americas still have the lion’s share in geographical distribution (ITU, 2006).
Further, more than 80% of the world's internet users are in OECD countries, which have about 20% of the planet's population (OECD, 2006).
The breakdown of market share by region is approximately 32% North America, 32% EMEA, 19% Latin America and 16% Asia/Pacific
Bahira, s. (2014). the Manual for Measuring ICT Access and Use by Households and Individual.
Poor countries do not always have resources to fit the bill of education services for technology. “For children in poor countries, future connectivity promises new access to educational tools…” (Schmidt 227). “Physical classrooms will remain dilapidated; teachers will continue to take paychecks and not show up for class; and books and supplies will still be scarce” (Schmidt 227). A survey was done in 2012 about Ethiopia give out tablets fully loaded with educational information to poor country; it irresistibly gave poor students a wealth of knowledge where students could write and speak English (Schmidt 227-228). Inversely, the education of poor countries has hit all time low. The countries that do not have the finance to buy or create technology for classes is detrimental to the country growth. Technology must be available for everyone. The world is hindered from becoming a better place without technology being present in education. “Just imagine the implications of these burgeoning mobile or tablet-based learning platforms for a country like Afghanistan,
The usage of the internet is growing faster than any other type of technology. In fact, statistics demonstrate that between 1993 and 1997, the numbers of internet hosts increased from 1 million to approximately 20 million (Zambia, 1999). Furthermore, by 2001 that figure grew exponentially to 120 million (Zambia, 1999). Now, there are almost 2 billions users that use the internet which represents a significant portion of the global population. These statistics alone demonstrate how the intensity of the internet can have a strong impact on economic development.
Many Americans look for various forms of entertainment. From watching television, to attending sporting events, and surfing the Internet. Millions of people use the Internet every day. In fact, 277,436,130 people in America use the Internet. That is 87% of the United States population, and.
As this critical juncture begins to take place, there has been much debate between scholars as to whether we should be enthusiastic or wary of these new changes. In Digital Disconnect and in his lectures, McChesney observes both views in an attempt to advance the discussion. On one side, the celebrants are embracing the Internet as a medium that will change society for the better. In Digital Disconnect, McChesney says, “In sum, the celebrants reaffirm one of the most important original arguments from the 1990s, that the Internet will be a force for democracy and good worldwide, ending monopolies of information and centralized control over communication” (McChesney 8). In my opinion, this celebrant view should only be regarded as a best-case scenario because of the unexpected obstacles for society that can...
The introduction of the Internet as an additional mass communication media has created new alternatives for information transmission. The ensuing popularity of the Internet has created many challenges that the public sector must deal with. Estimates in 1999 found that there are approximately 171 million Internet users worldwide (Group Computing, Jan/Feb 2000, p. 56). Change in the societal environment has made the Internet an integral part of the American economy.
Technology is a prime tool that has increased the speed of advancement for society, yet technology has also created a divide between those who are technologically savvy and those who are not. Van Dijk coined the term Digital Divide to describe the divide between Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives. The Digital Divide has a duality in which both solutions and problems are created depending upon what side of the divide you belong on. Digital Immigrants are individuals who live by traditional values that were influential before the Internet Age, while Digital Natives are individuals who live by modern values that are influenced by the Internet Age. The Internet Age birthed the ability to share information around the world in seconds with the
Saudi Arabia has developed rapidly in all sectors because of information and communication technology. ICT has significant impact in all sectors of economy of Saudi Arabia. It has also enabled the government to implement strategies that benefit citizens in terms of information technology that has led to high GDP and economic growth. The desert land that Saudi Arabia is known for has faded to an ICT hub. This is because of the strategic value that information technology has provided the country is insurmountable. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia exposes children to ICT at an early age through introduction of information and communication technology in schools so as to prepare them for the complex technological society that awaits them later in life.
In summary, the Digital Divide is real and has placed a severe gap between certain groups of people in the American culture. The Land of Opportunity is not necessarily made available to all. In her CNet article, Sonia Arrison (2002), provides a unique perspective as to the reason behind the gap. “The digital divide is not a crisis, and it is certainly not the civil liberties issue of the 21st century. The real issues are the sorry state of education and the push to raise the taxes that affect lower income families most” (Arrison, 2002). Arrison states that if the Government could improve the education in the American schools and stop luxury taxes on so many services, the Digital Divide could easily be narrowed. By narrowing the divide, more families could afford Internet if so desired, and students could have access to a better education.
Even in countries like Europe or the US, there is still uneducated people, including the lack of digital and language literacy. According to McKinsey & Company (2014), approximately 900 million of people who are not accessing or connected to the internet are uneducated. Incentives can also become a barrier, even though the internet utility is developing increasingly to providing access to information and resources in order to improve quality of life. However, there are still many people who still does not have a compelling reason to go online. Incentives, low incomes and affordability, user capability, and infrastructure are all a great barriers that stand between millions and accessing the
"World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Stats." Internet World Stats - Usage and Population Statistics. Internet World Stats. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. .
Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Will Smart Phones Eliminate the Digital Divide?" The Journal (1 Feb. 2011).
“Internet Usage Statistics - The Internet Big Picture - World Internet Users and Population Stats” available at http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
The Impact of ICT on Society I will talk about how ICT has effected people from all walks of life, how it has effected jobs and living conditions. = == == ==