Daily Times

COVID-19 has transformed the global strategic equations, it has impacted each part of human life so has it highlighted the divide in the access to information technology by the general masses. The virus that is itself unseen has shaken the structure, with severe ramifications for all states. After the announcement of lockdown by each state, we have noticed that the world came closer to their mobile gadgets. Despite the restrictions being imposed on the social and economic activities states are still ready to adapt up, based on information technology.

Besides this it has also prompted online education, we have online shopping, online awareness moves about the coronavirus. However, the major challenge is the security issue that has been risen since the security assurance at home isn’t in contrast with that at the workplace, the data-stealing, hacking has expanded as well, dealing of which is the need of the day.

Then even if this all has favoured few but at the same time has created a digital divide, which is all about the disparity that exists in the access to information, along with the impact information and communication technology have on different groups who are socially, geographically, and geopolitically apart. For instance, access to information for a student in Hunza will be different from a student in Massachusetts.

Although the digital divide has been an old concept since the invention of mobile phones but we can find its relevance in Covid-19 at large. Online updates by the news channels about the death toll by Covid-19 to the search of information by students who have been asked to attend online classes, we have found a disparity in the access to information and especially by those who belonged to the third world states.

So in this fast-moving world, the need for better access to information could be the next big concern for states. In the emerging debate over blockchain and artificial intelligence, one must not forget the disparity that exists in the access to information due to the digital divide. As the developed states have profoundly progressed yet on the side if we take a gander at the least developing states they are still not so into the digitalization.

The statistics show 1/5 people in these developing states use the internet and about 5% use online mediums for buying. Similarly, the gap is evident from the fact that it took almost 75 years for the telephone and 13 years for the television to reach 50 million users in these states. Moreover, it took the Internet for around 5 years to acquire the same. Apart from this, researches have shown that this worldwide dissemination of information technologies has to do with the social, economic, and political setup of states as well.

Therefore, considering the fact that many developing countries lag behind the West in these, the question as to how long will this Global Digital Divide linger always remains in place. To answer this requires the lens of Modernization theory, according to which global mass communication is the best mean to be utilized for spreading the message of modernity to the entire world. This message would then help in the transmission of the economic and political models of the West to the less-developed countries of the South.

Thus bridging the digital divide entails the modernization of the less-developed states. As for modernization theorists, only mass media has the potential to transform traditional societies.

Hence, with Covid-19 bringing shifts in global dimensions which has far-reaching consequences, it has too led to one of the greatest worldwide communication dilemmas of the day. In the face of globalization where the information and communication technology (ICT) is the main product of time, nevertheless, a digital gap lies among those who can benefit from this advanced technology and those who cannot. In spite of the fact that the least developing states are trying to bridge the gap and are working on new innovative strategies yet they have far to cover and only a collective effort can overcome any barrier and can prompt better outcomes.

The author is pursuing her Bachelors in International Relations from National Defence University, Islamabad.