About 40% of World Population Online, 90% of Offliners In Developing Countries 45
New submitter lx76 writes:
The International Telecommunications Union does research on telecommunications in society worldwide, from cellphones to internet use. Since 2009, on a yearly basis, they've released their research findings in a report called the Measuring Information Society Report. This year's report is over 200 pages long, illustrated with abundant graphs and tables (PDF). It's not a light read. But one of the interesting numbers is an index showing the divide in global connectivity. From the report: "Over the past year, the world witnessed continued growth in the uptake of ICT [Information and
Communication Technology] and, by end 2014, almost 3 billion people will be using the Internet, up from 2.7 billion at end 2013..... Despite this encouraging progress, there are important digital divides that need to be addressed: 4.3 billion people are still not online, and 90 per cent of them live in the developing world."
The report continues, "As this report finds, ICT performance is better in countries with higher shares of the population living in urban areas, where access to ICT infrastructure, usage and skills is more favorable. Yet it is precisely in poor and rural areas where ICTs can make a particularly significant impact." Projects like Google's Project Loon have their work cut out for them."
The report continues, "As this report finds, ICT performance is better in countries with higher shares of the population living in urban areas, where access to ICT infrastructure, usage and skills is more favorable. Yet it is precisely in poor and rural areas where ICTs can make a particularly significant impact." Projects like Google's Project Loon have their work cut out for them."
Developing (Score:2)
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Look kids, racism!
No seriously, that's some racist-ass shit. Fuck you, and your imagined colonial past. Things are substantially better now in the vast majority of developing nations than they ever were under colonial control.
Birth rates are down, death rates are down, education rates are up, diseases are getting eradicated, and assholes like you just want to imagine you know what's best for everyone.
Re: Developing (Score:1)
Of course developing countries are better off, that's the whole damn point of developing. The question is if the report, in the name of appeasing PC morons like you, also included self-destructing countries like Central Africa Republic and Somalia in the same group, which would likely skew the numbers badly.
Too much of a good thing (Score:2)
ass shit. Fuck
runs his potty mouth
Potty mouth?
Three slang words in a row referring to sexual contact, excretion of body waste, or body parts primarily associated therewith sounds "potty mouth" to me.
pretends that using profanity is somehow wrong
An occasional swear [orain.org] is a valuable rhetorical tool. But overuse of "potty mouth" words distracts from the point of the post and makes the speaker sound so uneducated that he can't express a point without bringing up sex or excretion.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh yeah, I'm real stung that a racist asshole called me a "SJW".
Fuck off and take your backwards beliefs with you.
Re: (Score:2)
I hope that at some point in my life I'm lucky enough to have done something that would qualify me as a social justice warrior.
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Uh-oh, somebody's upset about ethics in game journalism.
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It's not a few that are really developing and a lot that aren't, but the contrary. For example, if you look at how well Nigeria has dealt with the current Ebola crisis, you pretty much have to acknowledge that they have improved a lot since the 1960's. In the same way, Uganda today is not sliding downhill from some Idi Amin glory days, quite the contrary. We could fairly describe a few states as failed - that's not a racist term per say, it's a rational assessment if used correctly, but when people talk abo
Re: (Score:2)
What is your evidence that qbast is smart enough to know the meaning of "sarcasm"?
No one who uses the acronym "SJW" has yet demonstrated that level of intelligence.
Re: (Score:2)
China would like to speak to you about paper, gunpowder, the printing press, the magnetic compass, and the fork. Amongst other things.
Middle East too (Score:2)
China would like to speak to you about paper [etc.]
Granted. And the Middle East has given us phonemic writing (rebus hieroglyphs), alphabetic writing (starting with the Phoenicians), place value numerals, and algebra. Thus we recognize Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East as sources of science and technology. But what comparable contribution has come out of Africa south of the Sahara?
Other priorites (Score:2)
There are a lot of people in developing countries without safe drinking water, access to medical care, adequate nutrition and many other serious problems. While it is sometimes difficult for the lucky few in better off countries to understand, they might just be a few things that are more important then having Internet access.
Re: (Score:1)
Not to Google.
As soon as they become worth advertising to, Google wants them.
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AC, please. Anybody with five minutes--and the sense that God granted a goose--can see you're attempting to rewrite history in a pretty major fashion.
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I can drive you through some towns in Texas that are just like that.
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Add birth control to the top of that list. Most issues stem from overcrowding.
All our eggs in one basket? (Score:1)
Maybe this is a good thing? Even though I thoroughly enjoy participating in a widely connected world, I do question the wisdom of making being connected a requirement for survival.
developing countries, like the USofA (Score:3)
where the AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, ... warlords are protecting their turf and blocking access by rural Americans?
90% of "people" online are spammers (Score:2)
The numbers are actually adjusted for spammers because 90% of the email addresses and blog commenters are spammers, are spammers, are spammers, are spammers...*whack*...
40% are subsistence farmers (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Considering that 30%~ of the world are subsistence farmers, and 40~%+ are involved in farming I am not surprised. I highly doubt that Sub-Saharan Africa should be worrying about the myth of the digital divide for most of the people there. Or the people that don't use money in central America. I mean 50% of the world eats with their hands. 1st world People have weird priorities sometimes. I hope this group isn't getting any donated money.
So were my grandparents, education precedes change. If you formulate it like "What good is Internet going to do for a subsistence farmer?" the answer is not much. Heck, you can say the same about literacy. If you formulate it like "How can we teach you more valuable skills than being a subsistence farmer?" then Internet is a great tool. Industrialized agriculture can easily grow a few extra tons of rice and beans, put them on a container ship and ship to Africa but they can't afford it. Internationally they
What counts as online? (Score:2)
http://time.com/74584/unesco-s... [time.com]
.
My mom will be please to know (Score:2)
How online? (Score:2)
I read this and immediatly thought of my family. We're in rural Thailand. I gave my son an Android tablet and I provide a wifi Internet connection: he watches cartoons all the time. My wife plays with the tablet sometimes. But neither of them have an e-mail address or any social networking presence. And, frankly, I see no reason why they should. When my wife wants to socially network, she steps outside and talks to the neighbors. When my son wants to network, he goes to school. No Facebook, no Google+, who
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It's not even limited to the "developing world". My mom is totally offline; no computer, no internet, no cellphone. She does occasionally ask me to order something online that she heard about on the radio, but that's it. My GF isn't much better; she has an email, but doesn't use it much, and no facebook.