Over the years, the number of internet users grew worldwide. This can be seen from the graph in Figure 1.
Figure 1.1: Internet users in the world, 1993-2014 Source: Paul Helmick
Fig 1.2: Activities per minute by internet users. Source: Talent Propeller
However, as the numbers increase, there are still people out there who are not exactly contributing to the rise. They are people who are “affected” by factors like age, gender or amount of education received. All these can potentially affect one’s proficiency in using the web.
Figure 2: Comparison of the differences in the usage of internet by specific audience. Source: Office for National Statistics UK
The above figure shows that as age increases, the number of internet users decreases. We can already establish that there is a significant digital difference between those age 16 to 44 and those 65 onwards. So is it all doomsday?
Figure 3: A comic with relevance to age and technology. Source: Dilbert strips
Of course not! One is not limited just because of the circumstances he or she is given. For example, even if one is old, he can still pick up knowledge and have that digital edge! Even if one is not as educated, he can go to the library to learn. It all voices down to one’s willingness to actually try. If a young man is unwilling to learn how to use the web, he will not be able to use it. We are not defined by our circumstances!
Personally, I am an active digital user. It may be because I was growing up in the period when technology started to evolve (e.g. iPhone 3) and was forced to adapt.
Source: Kua Siew Min
People nowadays are too focused on seeing the internet as a negative space mainly for brainless socialising. However even socialising itself can provide a lot of help to a person. According to an article by “The Guardian”, a few benefits include, being more aware of the world, increasing creative juices and enhancing cognitive development.
To end off, I’ll leave you with a video that talks about the advantages of using the web amidst all the disadvantages!
A video on the advantages of using the internet. Source: Diane Basco De Flor
(299 WORDS excluding all references)
References Figure 1.1:Internet-Users-in-the-World-Graph Figure 1.2: 2016 in Minutes Figure 2: internetusers/2016 Figure 3: Cartoon Young and Old Article 1: Social Networking Video 1: Advantages of the internet
BUNNYMINZ 
Hi Siew Min! I like the graphics used in your post especially the Dilbert comic strip! I have noticed that you mention about gender differences as one of the factors correlating with Internet use and would like to expand on the digital gender divide.
In rural places such as Kampala (Uganda), they have the widest gender gaps, while almost the same number of men and women use the Internet in Manila & New Delhi. An online research discovered that in these communities, women were nearly “50% less likely to access the Internet than men”. Women were also likely to have suffered harassment online, with over 6 in 10 women claiming they had suffered online abuse (Women’s Rights: Translating Access into Empowerment, 2015).
It seems that feminist movement is frowned upon patriarchal societies. As a person who strives for equality, if women were more active online and spoke about pressing issues to the masses, perhaps things will culturally change for the country. Would love to hear your thoughts, cheers!
(Word count: 160)
Reference:
Women’s Rights: Translating Access into Empowerment, 2015. Global Report 2015: World Wide Web Foundation. Women’s Rights: Translating Access into Empowerment (online). Retrieved from: http://webfoundation.org/docs/2015/10/womens-rights-online21102015.pdf
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Hi Marianne, thanks for your comment!
I’m glad that you’ve brought attention to gender inequality and online harassment of women.
To me, I feel that it is inevitable that there is gender inequality in this aspect, as technology still belongs and represents “advancement” which is considered as an area that only men should explore – like studying. This will definitely widen the digital difference for women as a whole because certain countries are still “behind time” and are not for the notion of gender equality. However, I believe that as the world continues to move forward, women will start to gain more rights in different areas including access to the internet. There are people and organisations out there, taking care of that. According to the web foundation organisation, they are empowering women from the urban countries, as you have mentioned Kampala (Uganda), on and through the web by working to reform policies and in turn close the digital gender gap.
For your point about online harassment, I would like to bring your attention to an article by “The Guardian” (reference at the bottom of this comment). The article is about how Twitter teamed up with an advocacy group to fight online harassment of women. Pew studies have shown that 26% of women aged between 18 and 24 have been stalked online, and 25% have been targets of online sexual harassment. Basically, Women, Action, and the Media (Wam) created a form that consists of a set of detailed questions so that users can report harassments and threats which will be escalated to Twitter.
Along with other movements, this shows that much has been done to help create a safer online space for women. I believe that all these are beneficial and should be kept going so that these right mindsets will be instilled in the online community. With this ongoing measures, there will definitely be some change in the society to a certain extent.
Reference:
https://webfoundation.org/our-work/projects/womens-rights-online/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/08/twitter-harassment-women-wam
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That is comforting to hear that measures are taking place in order to bring equality and freedom of speech among women in rural countries! I feel that positive change is within our grasp as long as measures to protect women from online predators are being enforced by the respective organisations and sites.
As our generation moves into an era of acceptance and respect of human dignity, I stand by a personal belief that if culture does not adapt to the times, it will eventually fade into history. So let’s crush the patriarchal system on blog post at a time!
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