Promoted by the Secretariat of Digital Policies of the Department of Business and Labor of the Generalitat of Catalonia, the study on the digital gap in Catalonia offers an x-ray that should allow current and future public policies to be more and better oriented. As part of the Social Internet Revitalization Day 2023, which was held last Thursday, June 29, it was presented by the general director of Societat Digital, Liliana Arroyo Moliner, and the senior manager of KPMG , Marta Bricall.
Among the reflections shared, it stands out that part of the population remains excluded from access, use and knowledge of new technologies. Digital gaps particularly affect the most vulnerable groups and are reasons why they lose employment, training and economic opportunities. Consequently, this fact accentuates the socio-economic gap and the risk of social exclusion of these people. The study also states that half of Catalan households in a vulnerable situation cannot provide educational support to children, a fact that can translate into an aggravation of digital inequalities for the next generation.
As central features, the research identifies three factors of discrimination: digital access gap (difficulties in accessing technology or the means that make it possible to be digital), digital use gap (lack of use of technology, of the network and digital tools to carry out certain activities) and digital knowledge gap (lack of capabilities and skills in technology, network and digital tools).
In terms of access, the study places the territorial factor as one of the main generators of the gap, since although mobile coverage is above 99%, fixed networks of at least 100Mbps present more than twenty points percentage difference between the regions of Barcelona (95.5% coverage) and the rest of the territory, with the regions of Girona being the furthest away (71.8% coverage). In terms of use, age and socioeconomic level stand out as two of the main variables. On the one hand, the percentage of daily use by the population aged 16 to 54 is 95%, while that of people over 75 is 25%. On the other hand, at higher levels of education and higher levels of income, the trend indicates greater use of the Internet and, therefore, more appropriation and more use. In terms of knowledge, it is the gap where more discrimination factors such as training and skills, gender, age, socio-economic level and social inclusion are highlighted and at the same time it is the gap that affects a greater proportion of the population, involving the capacity for appropriation and utilization and the critical spirit.
Similarly, the gender digital divide, which crosses the three previous digital divides, must be taken into account. In this sense, the medium and advanced skill categories are led by men, while the percentage of women with low skills is higher than that of men. Thus, the digital gender gap is primarily a gap in knowledge and digital skills, which manifests itself, for example, in the use of computer tools and the use of the network and in the tasks performed.