Trawling through recent historical articles there have been some improvement in bridging the digital divide. But the evidence from the recent past still holds:
The internet and digital technology is very much at the heart now of how public, economic and social life functions. It has transformed how we work, communicate, consume, learn, entertain and access information and public services.
And while it’s become integral to all aspects of life, the spread of access and use is uneven and many people remain digitally excluded (OIS, 2013; Selwyn 2004). Those who are excluded can be limited or unable to participate fully in society.
The risk is that the divide between those with digital skills, and those who struggle to overcome barriers to access and use, the growing social and economic gap between those who are connected and those who are not, continues to widen (ONS, 2019; The Wales Co-operative Ce
ntre with Carnegie UK Trust, 2018).
How much and how often you use the internet can offer an insight into who could be considered digitally excluded, providing a way to assess how the internet and digital skills impacts on people’s lives (Good Things Foundation, 2017).
It is becoming the case that awareness raising needs to be more concentrated and far reaching to get agencies, government to make things happen.