Digital divide, the role of awareness in the use/non-use of the Internet: the experience of South African developing communities

Abstract

Efforts have been made by researchers to comprehend the nature and factors that contribute to the digital divide in developing countries and several attempts have been made to bridge this divide. Literature mostly investigates Internet non-use in relation to lack of access to information and communication technology (ICT), lack of skills on the use of the Internet and the informed decision to reject the use of the Internet. There is rarely any literature on the effect of the "awareness factor" in the digital divide on developing communities in South Africa. This paper focuses on Internet non-use resulting from a lack of awareness of Internet benefits among people living in developing communities in Gauteng, South Africa. A survey was conducted in four developing communities in Gauteng, South Africa, among three Internet-user types namely: Current-users; Lapsed-users; and Non-users. The survey was conducted to determine the participants’ level of awareness of the Internet benefits and to investigate the influence of awareness on their use/non-use of the Internet. The result of this research shows that non-users lack awareness of most benefits of the Internet and this affects their non-use of the Internet in comparison to current-users and lapsed-users. Employment status was also identified to have some influence on participant non-use of the Internet. Some respondents do not make use of the Internet due to lack of awareness of some of the essential benefits of Internet.