BT highlights the digital divide

Posted on 7 Dec 2004 at 17:46

BT has highlighted a new study that considers the extent of the digital divide and how it could affect the UK in 20 years time if current policies remain unchanged.

According to the latest figures, 51 per cent of the UK adult population (24.2 million) are digitally excluded in the most basic sense of having no access to a home computer or the Internet. When extrapolated to 2025, it is conservatively believed this will reduce to 23 million adults. While this might seem like slight progress, it was pointed out that this 'hard core of digitally excluded' will be even more adrift in a high-technology society - the divide between the digital haves and have nots will be even more marked.

The outlook is worse for registered disabled users. Currently, there are 3.4 million such adults in the UK of which 2.4 million (70 per cent) are digitally excluded. Assuming that disabled exclusion rates remain constant, 3.6 million registered disabled adults could be information outcasts in 2025. In other words, the registered disabled will increase as a proportion of the total digitally excluded from 10 per cent today to 16 per cent in 2025.

But is the digital divide in the UK a matter of education, or of the cost and affordability of technology or even of age or geography? These were some of the questions raised by the report, which was carried out by the Future Foundation on behalf of BT and included interviews with various IT experts as well as publicly available data from the Statistics Office. It was predominantly based, however, on the data and trends identified by the British Home Panel Study carried out by Essex University, which covers 12,000 UK consumers.

The answer seems to be not one of the above, but a mix of all factors.

The point was made that when analogue television is replaced by digital television in 2012, theoretically 100 per cent of the population will have access to digital services in some form. But this is not a means to close the digital divide. If instead of turning off the analogue TV airwaves, the government decided to ban analogue watches and only allow citizens to use digital watches, what benefit would that offer to people who wish to know the time?

Similarly, closing the digital divide may involve overcoming a lack of desire in some to use digital services in the first place. What proportion of mobile phone owners use existing WAP capabilities? Unless people are motivated to access technology-based services availability alone is not relevant.

'It is a social issue rather than a technology issue,' maintained Adrian Hosford, director of corporate responsibility at BT, speaking about the report.

Even on cost and education, the study indicated that 36 per cent of the digitally-excluded were above the poverty line. Similarly, highly educated adults figure among the technology-free...

Hosford stressed that there would be no single technological development that would close the divide. The contrary would be true, as each advance increases the risk of more people being 'left behind'.

'The gap widens with greater innovation,' he said. 'People who are confident, educated and skilled are on a virtuous circle, while those excluded are in a vicious cycle.'

He was referring to the often-identified problem that it is those who most need access to services and information, such as the elderly or disabled, who have least access. An example is the savings available for those who pay bills online - those who are already engaged with online banking can enjoy cheaper gas or electricity. Those without go further without...