GradView: The great divide – do we have a ‘digital democracy’?

By , 28 August 2014 at 10:07
GradView: The great divide – do we have a ‘digital democracy’?
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GradView: The great divide – do we have a ‘digital democracy’?

By , 28 August 2014 at 10:07

By Emily Stott, Telefónica graduate and One Young World delegate.

27 August 2014: It’s hard to disagree with the statement that ‘technology opens doors’. Technology empowers everyday entrepreneurs, allowing capital sourcing through crowd funding and free marketing through social media. Technology enables more efficient and widespread healthcare, with the penetration of smartphones permitting remote monitoring and self-diagnosis. Technology allows improved access to education and makes learning easier, faster and simpler.

This is listing just a handful of the benefits.

Through its empowerment of the individual, you would be forgiven for thinking that the digital revolution is a wholly democratic revolution. An ‘equalizer’, you could say. Our millennials certainly agreed with this notion: 69% of those surveyed in last year’s Global Millennial Survey claimed that technology creates more opportunity for all as opposed to a select few. It seems to be a force for good.

But if this is the case, then why has the inequality gap risen steadily over the past few decades, in line with the rise in technology, to a record high? Why is the world more unequal now than before the tech revolution?

Researchers have attributed this to various reasons. Significantly, technology has replaced a large slice of the low-skilled labour market. Rote work and basic labour are rapidly becoming automated. Computers can now do what humans used to do – but faster, cheaper and without complaint. Secondly, the huge opportunities offered by technology are being capitalized on by the highly skilled within developed countries at the forefront of the digital revolution; to put it simply, technology has been making the rich richer.

 

This is clearly a complex, and perhaps alarming, issue. But I think that we can learn from this trend. I believe that the rise in inequality highlights the importance of another key insight from the millennial survey: the power of education. This was heralded as the most influential way to make a difference in the world. There are some things we can do that a computer quite simply cannot, and we need to capitalise on this, improving the quality of, and increasing access to, education – particularly digital education.

69% of millennials claimed that technology creates more opportunity for all as opposed to a select few.

The wealth gap also highlights the importance of the campaign to use tech for social good. There are millions of people whose lives could be transformed. Access to education, healthcare and security are human rights. These should be available to all throughout the world, and technology is the best tool we have to enable this. I truly believe that technology can be an equalizer and open up opportunities to all if we use it in the right way. Let’s work together to build a true digital democracy.

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