The internet is a necessity nowadays and everyone should have access to it. Mobile phones are one of the main sources of accessing the internet and hundreds of millions of people use internet on mobile phones only. It means that without mobile phones, those people won’t have access to the internet as they don’t have broadband connections in their homes.
As you know that WWW stands for World Wide Web but it is not truly accessible to everyone worldwide. The number of people having internet access depends on where they live. More than 90% people in the USA have access to the internet and most of them have it in their homes. But that’s not the case when it comes to the Asia. Most of the people in Asia use internet on their mobile phones and if there were no mobile phones, those people will not have access to the internet at all.
In 2015, Barack Obama, president of the United States, called internet “a necessity” and took steps to take the internet to everyone. Obama called it “Digital Divide” where more than 90% people on one side of the divide have access to the internet and on the other side of the divide, only 50% people have the similar access.
Here’s what he said back then:
“In this digital age, when you can apply for a job, take a course, pay your bills … with a tap of your phone, the Internet is not a luxury. It’s a necessity. You cannot connect with today’s economy without having access to the Internet.”
Statista published a chart which shows that around 70% people in India and Indonesia use internet only on mobile devices. Whereas, just 8% people use internet only on mobile devices in the UK. That shows what Obama meant by “Digital Divide”. Although the chart is limited to 13 countries only but it clearly shows the internet trend in different parts of the world.
Here’s the chart:
