Browsing: Digital isolation

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the accelerated rate of digital technology adoption around the world heralding a shift to what has become a new normal for day to day life.

However, for millions of people living in Africa without access to the internet or laptops and smartphones, the pandemic has resulted in greater social and economic isolation.

By December 2020, about 634 million people in Africa were internet users representing 47.6 per cent of the continent’s population. This figure is expected to keep growing but there are many factors that entrench the continent’s digital divide with the latest one being the pandemic.

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The usual hindrances to Africans seeking to access technology are the high cost and unreliable connectivity due to the lack of a reliable network infrastructure.

Lockdowns and restrictions necessitated by the pandemic have hit Africans …