If we answer the question of what connectivity is, we will realise that it is a fundamental concept in today’s society, since it is the cornerstone on which numerous issues and aspects of our daily lives of the most diverse nature pivot.
Although it is true that connectivity presents an enormous number of aspects of enormous relevance, we must not lose sight of the fact that it also faces the challenge of the digital divide.
Digital divide and connectivity
Within the types of digital divide that exist – the use divide and the coverage or access divide – we find that connectivity plays a role in both cases, although with a different weight in each.
Within the digital usage gap we find different types (such as generational, gender or disability) where connectivity has no impact. However, in the rural-urban divide it does, as we can find that access is slower or more complicated in certain rural areas compared to cities.
In the digital divide of coverage or access, connectivity does play a very important role in facilitating the population’s access to issues related to this topic.
According to data from the International Telecommunication Union, whose anniversary is commemorated on Internet Day, in 2023 broadband coverage already reached 95% of the world total; a figure that we can compare with the 91% coverage of the electricity grid, for example.
Relevance of connectivity
Apart from the challenges involved in closing the digital divide, let us now look at the reasons why connectivity is so important in our society. Let’s analyse some examples.
Global information and communication
Having access to huge amounts of information helps us to learn, to research or simply to keep up to date on different subjects.
Likewise, this communicative capacity has reached a global level thanks to the fact that connectivity reaches practically every corner of the planet, making it possible to communicate with people from all over the world, whether through social networks, video calls or email.
This globalisation has completely changed the way we interact and relate to people regardless of where they are.
Digital transformation of companies and e-commerce
Whether we are talking about large companies or SMEs, digital transformation is essential for them.
The automation of processes, cloud services and the development and implementation of the use of social networks help with issues such as increasing productivity and optimising administrative resources.
Among the issues related to the business world, e-commerce stands out, boosting the capabilities of traditional commerce by making it possible for potential customers to multiply exponentially as they do not face physical or geographical limitations.
Digital education
Digital education opens up a huge range of possibilities – not without its challenges – such as the possibility of bridging the digital divide in certain social and/or geographical environments, creating new opportunities for the future, improving teaching skills, promoting personalised learning or motivating people to continue their studies who might not be able to do so without the advantages of connectivity.
This access to digital learning programmes or educational resources, whose international day is commemorated on 19 March, would be unfeasible without connectivity.
Entertainment
From the point of view of entertainment and culture, the possibilities offered by connectivity are numerous.
Both passive audiovisual consumption (such as watching films, series or documentaries on demand) and active consumption (which can lead to sports competitions such as e-sports, which although they may seem recent to us their origin goes back several decades) require connectivity, which in the second case is essential.
Without good connectivity and low latency levels, these e-sports competitions or online video games played by several people at the same time would be unviable with the standards we currently know them by.
Social and economic development
All these issues related to connectivity that we have been discussing throughout the article make economic and social development viable.
And the fact is that, both from the perspective of the mere economic progress of communities and of personal or human development itself, the facilities that connectivity offers when it comes to carrying out numerous activities – whether of a professional, leisure or training nature – makes it very difficult to imagine what the world would be like at this point in time if we did not have its help.
