The new Digital Divide

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Remember the Digital Divide, often defined as an economic and social inequality to the access to, use of, or impact of information and communication technologies? With almost everybody now having access to mobile phones, it’s less about hardware and more about bandwidth and skill levels. A decade ago, this was a huge concern: One Laptop per child was of real importance to get any place in the world access to technology.

Due to cheaper technology and widespread use of digital tools, the original gap has largely disappeared. And replaced by a new Digital Divide. Life and work have become more hectic and time-consuming for everyone and many parents are forced and eased into using digital tools as babysitters or ways to keep their children engaged while they are busy with email, work or their social media activity. On the other side of the coin, we have our digital barons setting strict tech-free rules at home. They know better than anyone they designed the tools to capture attention, manipulate technology to keep on clicking.

The digital overlords understand that building connections, interacting with real humans, being outside, being bored, exploring things out of boredom, digging deeper into problems are skills that are necessary to prosper in this new age of technology and humanity convergence. This is the new digital divide that needs to be bridged.

 

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