TODAY, we celebrate the advancement of technology worldwide. With a simple WhatsApp message, you can reach from Canada to South Africa instantaneously; with a tap on GooglePay, you can pay with your smartphone without taking out your wallet; and, with an impromptu click on websites like Rakuten, you can buy shares from all over the world within seconds without depending on the manoeuvring of third-party agents. Technology has transformed the way we live.
This is the world that John M. Keynes, a famous economist, had longed for. He prophesied that technological advancement would satisfy all our material needs, allowing us to work fewer hours per week and spend more time on leisure, such as sports and entertainment, with friends and family. In this world, he believed, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor would diminish, and social inequality can be narrowed as a result of this progress.
But that transformation has not happened in the way he expected it would 80 years ago. In a sharp contrast to Keynes’ anticipation, while technology has allowed us to connect with the world via social media, like Twitter, it has not been able to pull billions of people out of poverty, and social inequality has not been narrowed economically.
Social inequality staggers on and it creates a new problem — the digital gap. It is a term that describes the disparity in wealth between demographics and regions that have access to modern technology and communication, and those that don’t or have limited access.
According to the United Nations, 52 per cent of the world’s population still have no Internet access. And there is a significant difference between Africa and Europe. In Europe, 76 per cent of people can go online every day, while in Africa, only 21.8 per cent has access to the Internet.
It has precarious consequences.
It means digital tools that provide access to better education, knowledge and health information will also be denied to them. Due to poor infrastructure, lack of resources and lack of skills, these countries are struggling to keep up with their wealthier, advanced counterparts.
As a result, it has exacerbated social inequality at its core worldwide.
Wealth has become increasingly concentrated in advanced nations, and the gap is becoming more menacing day after day.
Global problems require global solutions. If we are to mitigate the digital gap, proactive steps must be taken by international institutions, major affluent economies and individual governments. A steadfast global solution can have a far-reaching impact on tackling social inequality pragmatically worldwide.
The benevolence that the world shows will make our world fairer and more equal.
I hope the world today can be a better place for everyone tomorrow as a result of our resolute determination to end social injustice.
TAN CHEE YONG
Kajang, Selangor