What is the digital gap, and how does it differ from digital exclusion?

What is the digital gap?

The digital gap refers to the supposed chasm between people who do and do not have access to the internet and digital devices. It grew from the assumption of a direct link between social and digital exclusion. It was assumed that digital exclusion was only a problem for the most vulnerable groups in society, like those in poverty, those with low levels of education, or the unemployed.

That’s no coincidence: it’s true that many people from those groups are vulnerable to digital exclusion. They also feel the impact more intensely, for example because they don’t have any close contacts who are digitally savvy and therefore have no support network to rely on. The dominant idea used to be that a lack of (high-quality) access was the root of the issue. Therefore, initiatives to improve digital inclusion tended to focus mainly on providing (fast) internet, public computer spaces, etc.

Digital exclusion: not a sharp drop-off

Today, it has become clear that people from all layers of society can encounter issues with digital applications. Even highly educated people and ‘digital natives’ are sometimes unable to keep up with the speed of digital changes. Therefore, digital inequalities cannot be reduced to a steep drop-off between people with and without access.

Besides access, we need a focus on the following aspects:

• Digital skills. Using and understanding media are two basic competences necessary for digital inclusion. Someone might be able to create a profile on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean they know how social media work and what they do with your data.
• User-friendliness. Making sure users have the necessary skills to participate in digital society is only one side of the coin. Providers and developers of websites and apps also have an important role to play. Their services must be accessible and user-friendly to ensure that they do not add additional hurdles. This is also called ‘inclusion by design’.
• (Accessible) support. For example, courses, printed and digital manuals, digital and phone-based support, or software that allows external users to take over the screen.

Motivation. It’s important to understand that digital skills are largely gained outside of formal education. The knowledge people acquire in daily life is also important in other contexts. We need to teach people to learn, and to want to learn.