....but only if everyone can get online
Too many children,
women, Indigenous populations and other marginalized groups don't
have access:
One of the
internet's greatest attributes is its potential to be a democratizing
tool. As the most powerful networked technology ever created, by
design, every user can have a platform and a loudspeaker.
Unlike previous
communication technologies, like radio or television, which broadcast
one message to the masses, with the rise of the internet came the
ability for individuals to not only be part of an audience, but
broadcasters in their own right.
This has had
implications on everything from entertainment and how a star is born,
to politics and how a revolution is organized.
But when it comes to
this great virtue of the net, there is one simple truth that is often
overlooked, especially by those of us westerners in the privileged
position of scrolling through articles like this one on our smart
phones: For the internet to be truly democratizing, everyone needs to
have access to it, and currently, too many people don't, including
women, children, marginalized people and Indigenous populations.
Digital access
is becoming the new dividing line, as millions of the children who
could most benefit from digital technology are missing out,
This was a central
theme in Children in a Digital World, a recent report published by
UNICEF, which says that "digital access is becoming the new
dividing line, as millions of the children who could most benefit
from digital technology are missing out."
The premise of the
report is that the advantages of the internet are plentiful: Digital
technologies offer opportunities to learn, giving children not only
access to information on issues that affect their communities, but
the capacity to help solve them. Additionally, the internet provides
economic opportunities by creating new kinds of work, and by
providing new training opportunities and job-matching services.
But to reap those
rewards, you need access, and according to UNICEF, approximately 346
million individuals — almost a third of youth world-wide — are
not online.
So, who are the
young people without access? The same social divides that plague life
offline create barriers for online connection as well. Children in
low-income countries are the least likely to have access to digital
technology.
"This digital
divide directly exacerbates the education divide already created by
unequal access to quality education, or education at all, based on an
individual's geographic location, gender, and economic status,"
says Children's media researcher Colleen Russo Johnson, co-director
of the Children's Media Lab at Ryerson University.
According to Saadia
Muzaffar, tech entrepreneur and founder of TechGirls, it is essential
that this issue be addressed. "We need to look at this divide
with the same level of urgency as we would look at gender or
race-based segregation in 2017 and beyond — as something that
creates foundations of inequity that are insurmountable in these
children's lifetimes," she says.
But this also
represents an incredible opportunity, since the tools and technology
exist to bring information and education to those who haven't
previously had it; it's just a matter of access. "For the first
time in human history, the barrier for entry to provide knowledge and
education to millions — regardless of where they are — is
actually within our reach," says Muzaffar.
According to UNICEF,
digital divides "mirror broader social economic divides,"
which means that in addition to those between rich and poor, and
those with education and those without, there is also a notable and
troubling gender gap.
Globally, 12 per
cent more men than women used the internet in 2017. In India, less
than one third of internet users are female.
Digital literacy is
an essential tool for children growing up in a world powered by
technology, but as Muzaffar explains, social biases impact not only
who has access to digital technologies, but how they use and
understand them. "Girls, especially racialized girls, and
children with disabilities are pushed to the bottom of the pyramid of
access."
Considering women
are the primary caregivers and community nurturers in most developing
nations, "keeping access to knowledge from them has a direct
impact on the financial security, health, and well being of their
families and communities," says Muzaffar.
So, what impact does
this have on Canadians?
For people living in
our urban centers, it may be hard to imagine that not everyone has
easy access to the internet. But as Muzaffar points out, that
couldn't be further from the truth.
"Even in a
developed nation, our remote and on-reserve Indigenous communities,
refugees and new immigrant families are severely under served when it
comes to equitable access to the internet," she says.
Access is a luxury
we often take for granted as we engage with the world around us from
behind our screens. As the UNICEF report acknowledges, the internet
can be a tool for good, offering opportunities to learn and share
knowledge. But for it to reach its true potential to level playing
fields around the world, first, we need to ensure that everyone gets
to play.