This text explores the evolution of digital inequality, highlighting how emerging phenomena pose new challenges to digital inclusion, particularly with the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into everyday life.
The Development of the Digital Divide
From the emergence of the Web, through milestones such as the rise of mobile phones and social media, and up to the current hype around AI, the development, access, and use of digital technologies have not been exempt from the impact of prevailing global inequalities, especially socio-economic ones. As these disparities emerge between regions, nations, societies, and communities, digital inequalities continue to arise through various means.
Despite decades of promises that digital technologies would foster democratizing, equalizing, empowering, or inclusive opportunities, such effects are still widely questioned due to the prevalence of various forms of inequality in the access, use, and appropriation of digital tools (van Dijk, 2020).
For instance, the assumption that access to technologies such as mobile devices would foster equality in various dimensions has been challenged by numerous analyses (Ragnedda & Muschert, 2013) that demonstrate that the digital sphere remains characterized by significant inequalities. In the specific case of mobile devices, despite the ubiquity and global reach of smartphones, limited or costly access to digital technologies and barriers related to digital literacy create, consolidate, or reinforce inequalities when these devices are incorporated into people’s lives (Marler, 2018), cutting short the promises of equality. Consequently, it becomes evident that technology alone does not guarantee the overcoming of inequalities associated with the digital divide.
The development of academic approaches to digital inequalities has evolved in parallel with the advancements of the digital sphere and its implications, especially regarding aspects such as the ubiquity of digital technologies, access to mobile communication devices, the deployment of various modes of connectivity, or the literacy required for using these technologies.
For example, the concept of the digital divide has been widely used to explain the causes and characteristics of differences related to access to or use of digital technologies (Cullen, 2001). Initially, the digital divide was understood as a binary distinction between those with internet access and those without. However, this concept has evolved to include not only access to these technologies, but also aspects such as the quality of access or the skills and outcomes associated with their use.
Therefore, to align with the development of the phenomena it encompasses, the concept of the digital divide has been updated, particularly through the notion of the third-level digital divide (van Deursen and Helsper, 2015). This new framework addresses not only access to and use of these technologies, especially the internet, but also people’s ability to leverage this use, for example, in terms of their social, economic, or cultural capital. Consequently, the authors warn about the possibility that when existing inequalities beyond the digital experience intensify, those individuals or collectives already marginalized might be further disadvantaged.
Helsper (2021) has more recently introduced the concept of socio-digital inequalities to refer to systematic differences that go beyond broad usage of digital technologies and explain people’s ability to gain or not benefit from their interaction with these technologies. Helsper’s concept covers the persistent nature of status differences among various social groups, which inevitably impact their ability to benefit from digital experiences.
Contemporary Digital Inequality
The path outlined in this text has provided a general overview of the development of inequalities relevant to the digital environment and the academic approach to this phenomenon. However, the ongoing technological transformations and the subsequent reconfiguration of their effects in the multiple spaces that shape contemporary existence demand not only maintaining, but also expanding and updating perspectives and approaches to digital inequality.
Today’s digital environment continues to be largely shaped by data control and surveillance mechanisms (Zuboff, 2019) established by mainly US-based tech companies through which they consolidate their economic and cultural power. Despite the perceived potential of Web 2.0 to empower users, as seen in movements like the now distant Arab Spring, or the emergence of technologies with a broad emancipatory capacity such as blockchain, Big Tech’s power has consolidated and expanded, limiting the individual and collective possibilities of empowerment of those who use the products and services offered by this sector.
Additionally, the divide between economically and technologically advanced nations and those belonging to what various authors understand as the Global South (Dados & Connell, 2012) persists to this day. It manifests, for instance, in economic asymmetries, where the former group is imagined to produce new technological developments while the latter lacks such capacity and merely consumes platforms and devices, or, at best, hosts component or product manufacturing centers.
In this understanding of the contemporary landscape of inequalities that emerge or are strengthened by the incorporation of digital technologies into human life, it is also necessary to consider the differences that arise in the experience of adopting new technologies. For instance, the varied opportunities to leverage generative artificial intelligence applications whose offerings, such as chatbots or image generators, have recently overflowed due to the fierce competition in the sector.
New technology implies also new issues. Image by Rodion Kutsaiev via Unsplash.
New Technologies and Their Implications for the Digital Divide
In the current landscape, the distinctions or gaps surrounding AI tools are not only related to digital technologies access or basic digital literacy, but also to emerging literacy aspects such as the skill to craft prompts, the ability to differentiate images and videos created by these applications, or the understanding of the biases or limitations of these tools (UNESCO, 2024).
However, the future implications that a technology with such seemingly vast transformative potential as AI may pose for digital inequality and inclusion might prove to be much more complex and varied, as the capabilities of this type of technology develop. For example, in recent years, one of the most widespread debates surrounding AI implementation concerns the potential mass labor displacement caused by the incorporation of artificial intelligence into the global workforce. While such a situation remains hypothetical, should this scenario materialize, its impact would involve a digital divide of unprecedented proportions.
Likewise, it is important to remember that AI is neither the only nor the last disruptive technology that could potentially foster or consolidate digital inequalities in the coming years. From existing and widely adopted technologies such as 5G connectivity to emerging developments like quantum computing, many technologies carry implications for digital inclusion. While these technological innovations, like their predecessors, have the potential to transform entire industries, their unequal adoption may create new barriers for those already marginalized from the digital realm, deepening the divide between individuals, groups and nations.
In conclusion, the development of the digital divide reflects the transformations of the technological environment and the interplay between it and inequalities in the world. From access to the internet to the effective use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, these divides not only persist, but also diversify and deepen. Ultimately, then, it is worth emphasizing that the evolution of the digital divide reveals that technological progress does not necessarily mean equality.
This post was curated by Contributing Editor Iván Flores.
References
Cullen, R. (2001). Addressing the digital divide. Online Information Review, 25(5), 311-320. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520110410517
Dados, N., & Connell, R. (2012). The Global South. Contexts, 11(1), 12-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536504212436479
Helsper, E. (2021). The Digital Disconnect: The Social Causes and Consequences of Digital Inequalities. SAGE.
Marler, W. (2018). Mobile phones and inequality: Findings, trends, and future directions. New Media & Society, 20(9), 3498-3520. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818765154
Ragnedda, M., & Muschert, G. (2013). The Digital Divide: The Internet and Social Inequality in International Perspective. Routledge.
UNESCO. (2024). AI literacy and the new Digital Divide – A Global Call for Action. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ai-literacy-and-new-digital-divide-global-call-action
van Deursen, A., & Helsper, E. (2015). The Third-Level Digital Divide: Who Benefits Most from Being Online? Communication and Information Technologies Annual (Studies in Media and Communications), 10. Emerald, 29-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2050-206020150000010002
van Dijk, J. (2020). The Digital Divide. Polity Press.
Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. PublicAffairs.
