Position Paper 2:

Digital Access in India 

Here in the United States having access to technology and affordable devices is a rather easy thing. You can stroll down to your local Walmart pick out a very cheap phone and a phone plan for a very low price. This is slowly becoming a trend in places like India as well. A new study shows that India is in a rapid rise in internet users in rural areas. In the annual ICUBE report last year the data shows that India is now registering a annual growth of 18% in internet users. In December of 2018 India was at a estimated 566 million internet users, throughout this year the total is expected to rise to at least 627 million users.

I decided to take a deep dive into the "Digital Trends 2019: Every single stat you need to know about the internet" I first looked into total internet penetration by country which in the United States we sit at about 95% and South Asia is only at 42%. Hootsuite's data shows that on average around the globe countries are gaining around 11 new internet users a day. The total amount of internet user in the world is at an estimated 4.388 billion users. The article then points out the biggest standout of the year was in India by having a 100 million user increase in just 12 months time. India is leading in Internet Growth Rankings in absolute growth. The number from this data shows that India is responsible for over a quarter of the globes total internet growth. In South Asia the overall social media penetration is only at 24% compared to the United States 70% rate. In India there is 1.190 billion mobile subscriptions  which is 87% of the population. India has 560.0 million internet users, 310.0 million active social media users, and 290.0 million mobile social media users. The population of India uses a multitude of different devices, whether for entertainment or productive purpose. About 80% of the population uses mobile phones with smart phones accounting for about 40% of the population. The average amount of time they spend on the internet is about 7 hours and 47 minutes per day. On any device India is averaging about 2 hours and 32 min on social media via any device. About 61% of citizens use the internet everyday and only 26% use it at least once a week. The top websites used in India are Google being the number one used, followed by Youtube, and then Facebook comes in at number three. The number one social media platform used is Youtube which is not surprising when other statistics show that most people in India access the internet to watch videos. The site is mainly used for music, movie, and hindi movies for user enjoyment. The total number of mobile connections is an estimated 1.190 billion with mobile connections for the population being 87%.  WhatsApp messenger is the number one active users application in India.

The Pew Research Centre did a global survey which shows why a "Digital India" remains a dream and not a reality. Now while I mentioned earlier India has made major jumps in Internet to boost their economy but are still lacking when it comes to internet penetration being compared to other countries. Only one in four Indian adults owns a smart phone or even uses the internet every now and then. In fact India is only barely above Tanzania with adults owning a smart phone. In the survey India is actually at the bottom out of 39 large economies when it comes to multiple factors. Even though the mobile penetration is improving its still struggling to match up with other places around the globe this having a lot to do with the poverty in India. But the concern here is economies facing even more poverty like Senegal, Nigeria, and Ghana are ahead of India in the world of mobile penetration. With the penetration of smartphones being so low that means that only one in five adults use social networking sites. The Pew Research Centre then brings to focus that smartphones are important to have access to financial services, health issues, and agricultural needs. This is why we see so many other issues in places like India due to their lack of access to internet.

"India's digital divide is not just about accessibility" Four years ago in India the government released Digital India to improve services and make government more transparent. With that being launched over 80% of citizens said they prefer their content to be in a vernacular language and not in English. A study showed that women in India were most likely to only use the voice call feature on their phones, where women in urban areas are more likely to use advanced applications. Even though Indian government is trying to bridge the digital divide in India this will be a hard task to handle due to many significant differences that are keeping India from matching other places around the globe. With all this information being said it's easy to see that although India has made major progressions towards the world of digital access they are still lacking when it comes to comparing to other countries like the United States. We as Americans need to stop taking internet and phone access for granted because other countries are suffering in the digital world.