I suspect many of you are wondering what exactly the digital difference is. Well, the digital difference is the distinction of every individual in accessing technology and social. In this case, the difference factor can be in terms of age, education level, country of residence, motivation and so on.
Source: Google Image
According to bar chart shown above, it is clear that the internet users has increased dramatically over the last decade. Nowadays, more than half of the world’s population is internet users. Yet, there is another half of the world’s population is not using the internet and what makes them unable to access the internet, particularly in the era of this highly advanced technology.
Source: Google Image
The biggest factor that makes them unable to access the internet is the age factor, due to for them technology is something extremely hard to learn in which their ability in learning something new has been reduced. The lack of funds to install fixed broadband connection is also one of the reasons, for instances in my country “Indonesia” with very low income make them cannot afford data contracts and has to rely on public Wi-Fi and additionally, not every regions in Indonesia can easily install fixed broadband connection.
The impact to me
As I mentioned above, I’m from Indonesia which is a developing country and the internet connection is consider poor. In particular, the connection is limited during the rainy day. For this case, only apply fixed broadband connection is not sufficient and I am supposed to purchase two data contracts as a backups.
For me, access to the internet is very essential in terms of communicating, watching football, doing project and learning education. However, we must be more careful of illegal or inappropriate materials can be found in the internet, in particular for children under age.
Word count: 300
Sources: Youtube
References:
Zickuhr, K. and Smith, A. (2012, April 13). Digital differences. Retrieved from Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech: http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/04/13/digital-differences/
Halford, S., Davies, H., & Dixon, J. (2017, November 10). Digital differences. Retrieved from Future Learn: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/learning-network-age/3/steps/263012
MANG2049 - LIVING ON THE WEB 
Hello Simon, I think you have good discussions about the digital differences in terms of Age and the Economic Status of the individuals with some useful bar chart. Apart from the cognitive issues to learn, I think that the main reason is they resist to learn as they have negative feelings about the social media, internet safety and lack of perceived benefits. There’s an example of my grandmother, she learns to use the internet as it allows her to check the lottery results. (http://rslive.bslcore.com/article.php?aid=4556&cid=6)
Next, I agreed that lack of funds is the reason to affect the usage of internet, but do u have any ideas on “how can the government to resolve the income equality? Also, I think we cannot overlook the consequences of online bullying to the children, as they will be away from using the internet, worse off, might commit suicide.
Overall, I enjoyed reading your blog!
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Hi Chan Kwan Chein. Thanks for comment. about how the government resolve the income quality might be quite difficult for them. As you know, corruption still an big issues in our country which causes our GDP not stable. and i do agree with you of not to overlook the consequences of online bullying and yes there are people commit suicide for this case.
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Hi Simon!
You did a great job in elaborating the topic, could completely relate to you since I’m from Indonesia as well and I know how bad the connection is! This context definitely helped me see a clearer picture through life examples. I do agree with you based on your idea about “The biggest factor that makes them unable to access the internet is the age factor, due to for them technology is something extremely hard to learn in which their ability in learning something new has been reduced.” However, I do believe that technology is advancing and sooner, ‘digital visitors’ might just turn into ‘digital residents’ not because they have to. I would like to know what are your thoughts on that? Secondly, you may consider using other media(s) to apply for connection other than ‘broadband connection’ which may probably result in better connection! Here’s a research I’ve made, you may wish to check it out in the link below!
http://www.expat.or.id/info/internetaccess.html
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Hi Christine Halim! thanks for comment. yes i do agree with you that sooner digital visitors will turn to digital residents as the influence by the environments. In particular, nowadays almost everything is about tehnology and it is like a part of our basic necessities. thanks for your recommendation about other tools to increase the connection and i will try it hahaa
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correction on my statement: I do believe that technology is advancing and sooner, ‘digital visitors’ might just turn into ‘digital residents’ because they have to.
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Hi Simon! I enjoyed reading about the effects of Internet connectivity in your country; I would like to add onto your point about the accessibility of the Web when age is a factor.
You will be surprised to note that older adults (aged 65 and older) get their news on their mobile device, a 24% increase since 2016. Among Americans ages 50 to 64, 79% of the demographics are getting news on mobile, older adults in America are driving the growth in mobile news use! (Bialik & Matsa, 2017).
With an influx in the use of mobile devices among older adults to attain news, what about educating these demographics about factual news resources? I have experienced on numerous occasions false news and panic among the older generation sharing inaccurate news, with some sites even having biased views (political and social) to garner “views” that increases their revenue. I would love to hear what you think, cheers!
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Reference:
Bialik & Matsa, 2017. Key trends in social and digital news media (online). Retrieved from: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/04/key-trends-in-social-and-digital-news-media/
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Hi Marianne Tan, thanks for your comment. Yes I do agree with you about older adults get their news on their mobile devices, as my grandfather often do it and also share many links to let me read. It is true that nowadays there are a lot of false news and it is about my country again where our politics often use media as a tool to propaganda, so they can topple the existing governments and gain benefit like corruption. You may read this http://www.ozy.com/politics-and-power/how-the-worlds-governments-are-fighting-fake-news/80671 and here is another about how to fake news: https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/fake-news-what-laws-are-designed-to-protect
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That is fascinating yet sad to hear about the corruption in your country, it seems that even the laws within the state can’t protect you from fake news. Fake news/propaganda pushes a narrative of lies, insinuations, slander towards true journalism, which begs the question, “what is real journalism” in our present time.
I guess we have to do our part to be informative towards the people who share fake news by teaching them how to look at sources and credibility of the writer!
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Hey Simon,
Love how you elaborated on the digital differences you faced back in Indonesia! Very insightful! I concur on the point that economic status can play an impact in accessing the web.
However, I beg to differ on “The biggest factor that makes them unable to access the internet is the age factor” statement on age being a biggest impact on learning. I started accessing the web at a very young age and I believe that age is not hindering their capabilities to learn through the digital world but it’s more of the economic status in Indonesia. You can click on the article link below and i hope it gives more insight to my point as the largest group of internet users was surprisingly 55 years old and above in USA!
Also, do you feel you motivation/attitudes have impacted on digital differences?
Cheers!
Shaun
References:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/244205/age-distribution-of-adult-internet-users-in-the-united-states
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Hi Shaun! Thanks for comments.and yes it is quite surprising me as the largest group of internet users was 55 years old and above in USA. and yes i also agreed with you about the age is not hindering their capabilities to learn through digital world. I only can say every single thing can impact on digital differences and motivation/ attitudes is one of it.
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