This blog post is reflection writing based on insights and understanding gained from the reading by Laura Robinson at al on Digital Inequalities and why they matter
Reading Subject Matter:
The reading speaks about the importance of recognizing digital inequalities amongst other traditional forms of inequalities
in the 21st-Century. It argues that Digital inequality is one of the new forms of emerging inequalities alongside
race, sex and gender and also has the potential to to shape life in multiple ways especially within a nagative light.
The latter is especially true when considering the extent to which there is a large gap between those who function better in the
digital realm because they've had a higher internet access usage than those who arent't as privilleged and thus have become digitally
disadvantaged. The reading further delves into the various ways that digital inequalities manifest themselves in areas of life,
further reinforcing the significant role for the awareness and recognition of them as an important form of inequality to be weary of.
These various ways of varying digital engagements that warrant a close reading on social research include:
The life course
Gender
Race and Ethnicity
Economic Inequalities, entrepreneurship and consumption.
During the life course, digital inequalities manifest themselves in various ways which include the usage of digital resroucrs from
youn children all the way across to adulthood. With a close eye amongst children, the rate at which their digital footprint is
increasing is an intersting insight generated by social science research, especially considering how many chcldren in their adolescent
are hooked onto their phones 24/7. As a result, this has different consequences on their digital engagements as it becomes
very clear which of the children have access to use dital resources and those who don't. As such, students who have unrestricted online
access spend majorty of their time doing everthing but acadeic work and thus the excess exposure goes up to 3 hours min.
For those that do not have that much access to digital resources, when they are compelled by academic expectations,they are forced to ration
their screen time and thus get deprived to actually get the web skills they need to also exist as efficiently as possible within their
life course.These long-term differences in daily internet engagaments further exacrbate the digital divide and inequalities that exists within
the daily lives of those affected by the uneven distribution of digital resources.
Within digital technologies exists a huge gap between men and women and the ways in which digital resources such as the internet, mobile
devices and computers. According to the reading , recent studies have been more focused on trying to understand the mechanisms that undeprin
the underlying differences. Although Research shows that the gap between men and women with regards to internet access has significantly reduced
implying that both genders have ultimate access, it still does not mean that the playing field is level. Especially if one
considers the "catfishing" as well as "imposter acting" activities that people do online.
By virtue of the latter statement, it becomes logical to conclude that there is an intersectional relationship that exists between digital
inequalities and gender especially with regards to gender disperities within gendering of the skills and content production as well as through
gendered labour market processes and the job selection criterions for jobs within the technological spaces.
As far as the manifestation of various forms of digital inequalities within race and ethncity, according to the reading ;
the study of different social groups, particularly ethnic and racial minorities becomes paramount for the purposes of undderstanding
the potential threats and the impact of their technological access and influence if one social group has significantly better and advantaged digital
engagement. According to the reading, I've learnt to find that most of the stratification thay holds the processes of ICTs is deeply rooted within
amplifying existing social inequalities even in the creation of new technologies. As such, this further exacerbates the the gap between certain ethnic and
racial minorities that have access and an upper hand at the digital engagement than those those have less and close to no upper hand at digital engagement
with these modes of technology. As such, this has caused the Internet usage amongst ethnic and racial minorities to be typically lower
than the internet and technogies usage for racial majority groups. Thus internet exlusion becomes another form of marginalization,
further reinforcing the underlying digital inequalities that yet continue to exist are perpetuated within existing social inequalities.
This perpetuation of digital inequalities has significant implications for economic inequalities, entrepreneurship, and consumption.
For instance, the lack of access to digital resources and internet among marginalized groups limits their ability to participate in the digital economy,
access information, and engage in online entrepreneurship. This further exacerbates existing economic inequalities, making it even more challenging for
marginalized groups to bridge the gap. Moreover, the reading highlights the importance of considering intersectionality in understanding digital inequalities.
The intersection of race, gender, class, and other social categories reveals even more nuanced forms of digital inequalities.
For example, women of color may face unique barriers to digital access and engagement due to both gender and racial biases.
The manifestation of digital inequalities in various areas of life, including the life course, gender, race and ethnicity, and economic inequalities, underscores
the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing these inequalities. This requires policy interventions, education, and community engagement to ensure equal
access to digital resources and promote digital literacy. Furthermore, the reading suggests that digital inequalities are not only a matter of access but also of skills,
content production, and labor market processes. Therefore, it is essential to address the systemic issues that perpetuate digital inequalities, such as unequal distribution
of digital resources, biased algorithms, and lack of representation in the tech industry. It is through the latter that we can work towards overcoming digital inequalities.
References:
Laura Robinson, Shelia R. Cotten, Hiroshi Ono, Anabel Quan-Haase, Gustavo Mesch, Wenhong Chen, Jeremy Schulz,
Timothy M. Hale & Michael J. Stern (2015) Digital inequalities and why they matter, Information,
Communication & Society, 18:5, 569-582, DOI:10.1080/1369118X.2015.1012532
To link to this article: Digital Inequalities and Why they matter
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