DISCONNECTED: Digital Divide in the Lives of Filipino People

Baeza, Myraflor J.

Castro, Joenard A.

Dela Cruz, King Rich P.

Lopez, Genesis U.

BSAR 2B

Introduction

The most prominent ways in which technology has benefited society are in

the areas of communication, education, and health care. Technology paves the way for

more opportunities and possibilities. However, a barrier was still prominent in the

Philippines – Digital Divide.

The term digital divide was already used even before the turn of the 20th

century. It is used to define the difference between people with and without access to

telephones. From the late 1990s, this term became an indication of the gap between

people with and without internet access, specifically broadband. (Hanna, n.d.)

In the present time, the digital divide often exists between those in urban

and rural areas, educated and uneducated citizens, members of different socioeconomic

categories, and nations that are more and less industrially developed. In the study

(Heeks, 2022) it is indicated that the digital divide can be viewed from different
perspectives from contextual dimensions of social inequality. There are divides in the

accessibility of technology, divides in adaptation of technology, and divides in the use of

technology. Moreover, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development defines

the digital divide as the difference in access to and usage of information and

communication technologies (ICTs) and the internet for a wide range of activities between

individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at various socioeconomic

levels.

In the Philippines, more than half of all households do not have access to

the Internet, fixed and mobile Internet penetration in the Philippines is relatively low,

compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors, according to the National Economic

Development Authority and the World Bank's Philippines Digital Economy Report 2020. It

is believed that this gap contributes to uneven access to services offered online, it also

highlighted that the Philippines still experiences “a very significant digital divide”. (Conoza,

2021)

This study would focus on the digital divide among households that appears

to depend primarily on several factors like location, social status, household size, age,

physical and mental ability, and education.

LOCATION

In the Philippines, connection remains higher in metropolitan regions, while rural

areas continue to have poor digital infrastructure. According to the Department of

Information and Communications Technology (DICT), urban families have a greater

incidence of internet connection than rural households, with Metro Manila households

having the greatest access (32.3 percent). The digital landscape has made productivity

a privilege, and people who do not have adequate access are left behind, missing out
 on chances ranging from basic necessities and great education to good job and

reskilling. In a post-COVID world, the problems for the Philippines and other nations in

providing consistent internet availability, accessibility, and affordability have never been

stronger.

The researchers also discovered that one of the signs of the digital divide may be

seen in the individuals who surround the digital system. So, why do people participate in

digital systems that have negative repercussions for them? In other circumstances, this is

due to ignorance: a lack of awareness about the negative implications and a mistaken

idea that inclusion will be helpful. This is connected to deception by the more-advantaged

group of the less-advantaged group in the adverse integration literature (Fortin,2011;

Mithra,2020). We can observe this at work in criminal exploitation. Criminals who target

South Asian victims utilize Middle-East country codes.The ignorance is more nuanced:

the benefits exist, albeit not in the form or extent anticipated, and the ignorance is either

of the existence of adverse consequences or of their likelihood and extent. This highlights

an important point about adverse digital incorporation: it may not be solely adverse, i.e.

solely negative in its consequences.

Why is it that the value of activities and/or resources is allocated differently if they

are included into a digital system? The research on unfavorable incorporation makes it

abundantly evident that the core reason is power and control inequality: the way a more-

advantaged group wields power over a less-advantaged group and the system into which

it is incorporated (Bracking,2003;Hickey & du Toit,2013). This control enables the former

to influence the flows of value-extracting and capturing positive value created by the latter

group, as well as directing negative value towards that group. Because the adverse

incorporation literature lacks a dimensional framework of power, the one presented here

is derived inductively from cases of unfavorable digital incorporation.

 In a very direct sense, inequitable results can develop from digital systems since

the more advantaged group has influence over the system's design compared to the

exploited users: design inequality. This was true in virtually all of the examples described

above, when nations or platform businesses were able to build digital system procedures

and governance in such a way that value flowed unequally. This is frequently most

obvious when alternate designs exist, indicating that there is nothing inherent in the

disparities that are discovered. Some mapping systems, for example, are extractive,

relying on outsiders to collect data from low-income areas and then put it online for the

use and profit of others. However, alongside such designs are alternatives prepared by or

in collaboration with the community. These employ community members to map and

make explicit efforts—via low-tech interfaces, paper-based maps, presentations at

community meetings, and the like—to enable communities to utilise that data (Heeks &

Shekhar,2019).

ABILITY

Inequalities in the use of digital systems may be caused by resource disparity.

Users with less access to financial, human, social, physical, and informational resources

will be differentially absorbed into digital systems compared to those with more

endowments, where the latter can gain value from the former. In the preceding enclosure

example, for example, it is the global North actors who understand the economic value of

local plants while the Shuar do not, and it is the former who have the financial resources,

socioeconomic contacts, and physical machinery required to monetize the plants into

pharmaceutical products (Nagan &Hammer,2014).

Institutional inequality can occur when official rules and regulations, as well as

informal norms and values, favor the more advantaged group. In other circumstances,

digital inequality may result from a lack of institutional safeguards for the underprivileged.
Children who indulge in cybersex, women who are mistreated on social media, workers

who must be available 24/7 to their managers, and gig workers earning less than

minimum wage all suffer as a result of a lack of regulation protections or the ineffective

enforcement of those that do exist.

The relative interdependence between the players in a digital system can be used

to understand relational inequity. The huge reserve army of labor in many global South

nations produces uneven reliance in the economic sector. For example, physical gig

platforms employing drivers and deliverers can easily replace any individual worker

(Gomez-Morantes et al.,2022). The platforms, therefore, do not rely on specific workers

and can treat them unfairly. Individual workers, on the other hand, may rely heavily on the

platform, particularly if they have taken out loans based on the expectation of a certain,

stable income. It has been demonstrated that the higher the worker's reliance on the

platform, the more inclined they are to allow themselves to be exploited (Schor et

al.,2020).The itemization of gig workers in the overall lack of trade unions or groups for

such employees exacerbates the imbalance of reliance in this arrangement (Graham et

al.,2017). The platform's structural relationship to employees is therefore numerous

individual one-to-one relationships rather than a one-to-many relationship mediated by a

worker organization, with the former being significantly weaker and more vulnerable to

exploitation.

EDUCATION DURING THE PANDEMIC

According to Alvarez, Jr. (2021), "most educational systems around the world have

migrated to remote learning modality as a measure against the spread of the coronavirus

disease 2019 (COVID-19)." Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease, the educational

system in the Philippines has also shifted from traditional learning to online learning. Most

families at the time were unable to purchase the technology required for their pupils to
continue learning throughout the epidemic. Because most families cannot afford to

purchase cutting-edge technology, some kids did not enroll in the new form of learning.

Some households have the luxury of being able to buy the technology even before

the epidemic arrives. Even though none of us were prepared for the pandemic, they come

prepared to ensure that the students in their family continue to learn despite the outbreak.

"Modular Learning" has also been established, in which students must obtain a

copy of their handouts to study on their own and return their worksheets to their teacher.

Students in this form of learning are not forced to attend online or on-call classes, unlike

those who have the ability to attend online classes.

Even if there are printed handouts, teachers continue to contact students who have

enrolled in Modular Learning for consultations and to monitor their learnings and

worksheets. Teachers also need the necessary gear, such as a laptop and an internet

connection, in order for online consultations to be viable.

Even though handouts are distributed, students enrolled in Modular Learning still

requires an internet service. Not all of the essential lessons are included in the handouts;

they must additionally conduct online research on the challenging topics that pupils

confront. According to a poll conducted by DepED, around 20% of the 6.5 million students

who have access to the internet travel to computer shops or other venues with internet

access just to learn. Out of 6.5 million pupils, 2.8 million do not have access to the

internet at all. This is a regular occurrence in rural areas, where 53% of the population

lives, and where speed and accessibility are issues.

According to a 2022 study led by Aguilos and Bustillo, "the advent of remote

learning to continue the students' learning process has caused difficulties for both the

students and the educational institutions." The difficulties encountered by both students
and institutions may be due to a lack of technological availability because we are

unprepared for the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, most students cannot afford

technology because it was impractical, but since the outbreak, technology has emerged

as one of everyone's basic requirements.

AGE

Almost anyone today have the ability to use gadgets but not all is knowledgeable

about everything on the internet. We can use social network sites like Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram and many more. We also tend to see advertisements of products that catches

our attention. But has the thought of “Online Scams” Crossed into your mind? There are

many types of “Online Scams” that is in the surface of the internet. Most of the victims are

the Elderly People who lacks knowledge about the internet.

On an article wrote by Randy David of The Inquirer, he has interviewed a senior

citizen in her late 60s that has been scammed by a “nice” lady that apparently is from a

bank.

“I was just so happy to find somebody who was willing to stay with me for hours on

the phone to guide me through the maze of digital banking”, said the senior citizen,

without her knowing that it was a step for the scammer to get information about her bank

account.

“She said that as a preferred client of the bank, I could redeem my accumulated

credit card reward points by converting them into cash, to be transferred to my GCash

account, if I had one, or to my existing bank accounts”, she added. In this way, the

scammer can access all account information that will be given by the senior citizen

because she did not know that she is not a real “bank representative”. This action resulted

in her, the senior citizen, getting scammed.

One of the best solution for this situation to be avoided is to have a seminar, especially for

elderly people, where they could be taught about using the internet in the safest way,

avoiding every scams that they can encounter as the browse through the internet

SOCIAL STATUS

At the time that face to face interactions and activities were limited by mobility

restrictions and social distancing brought by the COVID - 19 pandemic, it emphasizes that

digital technologies were important in every aspect of our life. The Philippines is ranked in

the top 10 globally in terms of number of internet and social media users but as the World

Bank Group mentioned (2020), the Philippines is still one of the countries that have been

able to grasp digital technologies to its full potential and millions of our children still live in

communities that have very little access to digital literacy. It is because of the fact that

poor quality of the internet has been distributed. It is reported that nearly 60% of

households in the Philippines have no internet access and derive the best out of the

digitalization.

According to the research of the Asian Development Bank and Thinking Machines

Data Science, Inc. (2021), they discovered that only 83 percent of the Philippine

population live in areas with sufficient fixed broadband speeds, while only 70 percent for

mobile. Apparently, Metro Manila, which is extremely urbanized and populated, has the

highest percentage of people who have adequate access to both fixed broadband and

mobile. While the vast majority of rural local population in Muslim Mindanao's

Bangsamoro Autonomous Region completely don’t have a sufficient access for

both fixed broadband and mobile internet. The decline in access for rural populations

demonstrates not only how many people are left without the means to fully participate in
this shift to the digital space, However, it also indicates the disparity in infrastructure

quality between more central and urban areas and more remote and rural areas.

Distance learning brought by the COVID - 19 pandemic divulge the aggravating

digital divide in the Philippines. This crisis impacted the 28 million Filipino students that is

suffering from slow internet access and availability of technological gadgets, one of those

is the eighteen-year-old college student of Emilio Aguinaldo College in Cavite named

Erika Marie Custodio wherein she needed to use a game which is the Shopee Bubble

from famous online store app just to get a digital access for her online classes (Santos, A.

P., 2020).

Philippine Digital Justice Initiative(2021) conducted a case study that focuses on

the digital divide on urban poor situations in the Philippines. Sitio San Roque is one of the

most known urban poor settlements which is located at Brgy. Bagong Pag-Asa, North

Triangle, Quezon City. The abrupt shift to remote learning for students became a

significant problem in the said sitio. It highlights the social inequalities in the serve of

accessing education.

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