The digital world have influenced our daily lives as it became an appropriate tool for our work, social interaction and education. However, not everyone have the same access to technology. This is known as Digital Differences which exist among different demographic groups (age, education level, household income, etc) (Kathryn Z. & Aaron Smith, 2012).
Have you heard of William Kamkwanba, the boy who harnessed the windmill? The fourteen-year-old boy from Malawi obtain an incredible feat of building a windmill using references from library books.
In an interview, at the 06:40 mark, he shared with ‘the Daily Show’ about the revelation he had when he was first introduced to Google and how the accessibility to information on Google shook him.
There are many who do not have access to the internet and William recounts on how it will be beneficial to have Google when building his windmill.
Another aspect of Digital Differences is Online practices. Our online practices differs among each individuals and it is affected by our demographic groups. The demographic groups have influenced how users interact with the Web. Our attitudes, family, society and cultural values have shaped our way we use the internet.
Indefinitely, the younger generation have more access to the internet and are more accustomed to interacting with the web. The image below shows the differences of adults and teens when using social media.
Growing up in a privileged environment, I have accessibility to the internet. I am able to learn and develop efficiently and effectively due to the availability of online courses and the vast information online. I can extract information online to assist my research and learning. As a teen, I am always on social media and following trends and news have helped me keep up to date with things that are happening around us.
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References
Hindenach, J. (2013, August 27). Adults Vs. Teens: How We Use Social Media. Retrieved from NextAdvisor: https://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2013/08/27/adults-vs-teens-how-we-use-social-media/
Katheryn Z. & Aaron Smith (2012, April 13). Digital differences. Retrieved from Pew Research Centre: http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/04/13/digital-differences/
Adriel Li 
Hey Adriel,
It is amazing to see how a fourteen-year-old boy learnt to build a windmill through books. It shows how self-learning takes place when the right motivation is formed. Unlike William who did not have Google to aid him in building the windmill, Google has always been my first point of ‘knowledge’ since secondary school.
Within our local context, I agree that online practices are shaped by attitudes and social values. My mother who owns a smartphone will never use her mobile to do banking transactions and online purchases, unlike me. I believe it is partly due to my mother’s perception of online transactions as unsafe and potential data leakage.
You also mentioned that teens access internet frequently and are more fluent in interacting with the web. In this article (https://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-divide-technology-internet-access-literacy-vanessa-vega), the author suggests that acquiring knowledge can bridge the digital divide. How do you think the digital gap can be bridged between the younger and older generation?
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Hi Stella,
I do agree that sharing of knowledge can bridge the digital divide. There are courses made available for people to learn more about the Internet and how to interact online. Take for example Austrian telecommunications company A1, they provides coaching sessions with the objectives to reduce the digital divide in the population and creating a bridge between the generations. They trained interested young people as “digital coaches” to coach the older generations on digital knowledge. The interaction between the young and old generations will help the different generations to understand each other. (http://www.straitstimes.com/world/bridging-the-digital-divide-between-the-generations)
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Hi Adriel,
Thank you for sharing the link! It is interesting and enlightening to see how Austria is taking a step in bridging the digital gap between the older and younger generation.
In the Singapore context, some of the seniors are also learning how to be tech savy as well in order to connect with their family. This article shows that 78% of those 55 years and older access Internet every day. http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/majority-of-singapore-seniors-are-web-savvy-says-global-study
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Hi Adriel, your graphic visual is real awesome. It clearly shows out the digital difference in different age group. you state that the digital technology has great influence on our daily life and it is an important tool for work, social interaction and education. I cannot help but to raise a question: what if the it will become not just a tool but our future life? The reason why I have this crazy thought because of an episode of Black Mirror, a brilliant British science fiction analogy series. In fourth episode of season three, the future world has the very powerful technology to upload people to the internet/cloud, so they can live in a permanent young version of themselves in the simulated reality. I am thinking if this technology came true, there would be small difference in age breakdown for social media users since a lot of people might choose to live ‘online’ and stay young forever.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Junipero
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Hi Jia Li,
Thanks for your praise! You had my attention at uploading oneself into the digital world, that is indeed an interesting thought. The development of Virtual Reality (VR) technology have helped the world to feel more connected to the digital world. This maybe the first step in bringing the people into the digital world. There are also fictional stories of the VR world and this shows that there are many other would share the same thought as you. Although the idea of the virtual world is amazing, it may have some negative impact if people get too attached to the virtual world. The current world is facing issues with people getting too attached to the digital world. There are currently some people who feels that their life revolves around the digital world, creating a persona online and tends to detach themselves from reality. They avoid contacts with reality and neglected their responsibilities on the real world and it often cause problems for themselves and others around them. If VR world becomes a reality, this may result in people neglecting their responsibilities on the real world which is bad.
It may also be dangerous to live in the VR world as it is influenced by the real world, people may temper with the VR world. Although I also love to live in the VR world and have the crazy desire of wanting it to become a reality, another part of me feel that the VR world cannot replace reality. What are your thoughts on this?
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