Who could be isolated from our new digital society?

Jono Sylvester

The coronavirus has shaken normality. At least we can work, study and entertain ourselves online? Digital technologies have woven themselves into our lives. The internet gives us the opportunity to continue our life in parts. If coronavirus turned up 30 years ago would we have been able to stop everything and work from home? Probably not. 

In March 2019, the Department of Internal Affairs published “The Digital Inclusion Blueprint - Te mahere mõ te Whakaurunga Matihikio.” According to Dr Megan Woods, the Minister of Government Digital Services, the goal of the Digital Inclusion Blueprint is to see New Zealanders thrive in the digital era. Behind this is the goal of closing the growing digital divide. The digital divide is created by the difference between people who use the internet and digital technologies and those who do not. As we upload our society and lives onto the internet, people that cannot afford access to the internet through a competent device or a strong connection are being left behind. 

The goal of digital inclusion is when everyone has equitable opportunities to participate in society through the use of digital technologies. The impact of the Level 4 alert is the effective shut down of how society in New Zealand normally operates. The alert has forced the majority of the country to engage in society, whether for work, study or for basic social interaction, through an online platform. In this kind of online environment there is a significantly higher risk that we are leaving people behind. In the 2018 Out of the Maze: Building Digitally Inclusive Communities report interviewees described the impact of not being able to access the internet as exclusionary, isolating, creating a sense of powerlessness, and limited opportunity. We have become so dependent on technology that those left on the other side of the digital divide are being segregated from the mainstream making them vulnerable and powerless. Being excluded from a significant part of society is damaging people's wellbeing and opportunities; compounding other forms of deprivation. 

So who isn’t digitally included in New Zealand? In the 2017, The Pulse of our Nation Report the Government's Digital Inclusion Research group identified the digitally excluded as seniors, people with disabilities, people living in rural communities, and families with children living in low socioeconomic communities. This is a significant issue  in normal circumstances affecting a large section of New Zealand. Today’s circumstances are no longer normal. This group who are most excluded from our digital world are also the people who need to be in isolation the most because many are more vulnerable to COVID-19. 

Some estimates show we will be in isolation living in our bubbles connected really only by the internet for the next 2 months at least. In that time a significant amount of people will be isolated without adequate access to digital services like up to date information, connection to other people, and all the other perks of internet life. Ironically, in the Government’s Digital Inclusion Blueprint 2020 was a year for reviewing and checking the relevance of current digital inclusion work. Now we are in a social situation where vulnerable people are excluded more from participating in society. In a time where people need access to up to date information and the tools to communicate, the digital divide has never been more apparent and devastating as people cannot engage. 

One week into isolation. We need to think now how we can support those being left behind.