This article from Seth Godin’s blog, made me think about the information divide. He was talking about productivity divide, but I’m more concerned about the growing information divide.
The Haves:
Some of us have access to all the information in the world, thanks to the internet. We even complain that there are way too much information/content. Whatever information we want about anything and everything, it is just a click away. We even complain that there are too much information, too much content. We filter the information according to our needs, search for specific content, subscribe to RSS feeds of our favorite blogs/news. Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and many more, they are part of our daily life. For us internet is a basic need.
Our answer is “YES” to most of these questions from the simple quiz by Seth Godin:
The Have Nots:
And then there are those people, to whom the above quiz won’t make any sense. People who doesn’t even know what a computer is. Few of these people have heard of it, yes. But, when you tell them to “move the mouse” they are clueless as to what you are saying. PDF, Word file, PowerPoint, RSS will seem like a different language altogether. All the information available online is inaccessible for them.
How will these two kinds of people co-exist, how will they compete? Will it be a fair competition?
The first group of people “the haves” will always have an advantage over the other group when it comes to anything.
Compare a kid who owns a high-end computer, an XBox or a PS3 maybe, having a Facebook A/c (one needs to be 13 to open a FB A/c but u get the idea), etc. to a kid who sells stolen watches at a busy traffic signal in Bangalore. The second kid may have been way smarter than the first kid. Now, Which kid do you think will grow up to be more successful, rich, happy with life.(Ok, a computer-illiterate or even an illiterate can also be successful, rich, happy with life, I get it. But what happens if these two kinds have to compete for something).
In this case also, the divide between these two groups will get wider and wider, the same way rich gets richer and poor gets poorer.
Whenever I come across a beggar/domestic help, etc,(there are too many of them in India) I use to think about “things” other people take for granted but they don’t have access to… but now I think about their kids, their future and how difficult it will be without access to “information” others take for granted.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
wo man.. tha was a good write.. true that there is a wide information divide in our society. what do u think could make things beter?
Movin …….
There will always be a information divide…. But as far as i see , the cultural and educational divide should be addressed 1st……..
@sawan
Things will only improve if the ‘haves” start caring about the “have nots”. The idea of “each one teach one” can be aplied here as well.
@animesh
Actually i think educational divide and informtion divide are pretty much the same thing. Those of us who have access to good education(eg private/english medium schools) will certainly have access to more information than those going to govt/non-english medium schools.
About the cultural divide, I’m not really sure if it will be that relevant in the future. I personally feel cultures/religions are just ways to differentiate one person from another. As the world become more and more globalised, cultures and religions will lose their relevance. But then these are my opinions.
Do comment more on what you think.
as long as the educational divide exists, i believe cultural differences will always be there… so i guess we need to address the education first…