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The UAI Business School, along with the Piensa Foundation, organized an event at the end of April that brought together various academics, including Luis Santana, director of our program, and Arturo Arriagada, director of Social Media Culture. The conversation was guided by Ellen Helsper, an academic from LSE Economics and author of the book “The Digital Disconnect: The Social Causes and Consequences of Digital Inequalities.”
The first point highlighted was how digital opportunities, such as access and competencies, have both positive and negative consequences directly related to the level of education, empowerment, physical and psychological well-being, as well as a sense of belonging.
Digital literacy plays a fundamental role that directly impacts critical knowledge, enabling a better exercise of citizenship. This is precisely where inequalities begin, existing between countries and among individuals, recognizing predictors in this way.
For example, in navigating and evaluating information, the best predictor of skills between countries is traditional literacy, while for individuals, it is the level of education. Additionally, a person’s socio-cultural group status (be it gender, ethnicity, social class) can be a predictor of confidence when operating different technologies and navigating information.
Social inequalities are reflected in the digital world, where historically segregated people face difficulties in creating content and accessing reliable information. Their lesser proficiency with technological tools limits their access to online public services and their ability to discern between true information and fake news.
Vulnerable and marginalized communities find in online “echo chambers” safe spaces away from the abuse they often suffer in public spaces. However, this leads to their desertion from these public spaces, which limits the visibility of their experiences and perspectives to those who have historically been privileged. Despite their isolation, these communities remain aware of and exposed to dominant experiences and viewpoints.
Thus, some of the key conclusions of Helsper’s book are based on the idea that even with the same level of literacy, a digital space is not the same informative space nor the same experience for everyone. Similarly, literacy is crucial, but so are the awareness, responsibility, and actions of those who are more privileged.
Finally, a call must be made to NGOs and social enterprises to get involved in reinforcing collective measures, taking into account precisely the inequalities in access and skills, as well as raising awareness of this phenomenon for the design of platforms themselves.
You can acquire Ellen Helsper’s new book here.