ASH-10: Connected doesn’t always mean digitally connected
johnpopham
· 3 months ago
Love this post Pete. We need to stop counter-claiming about the merits of online and off-line and concentrate on joining the two together
John Heaven
· 3 months ago
I agree that it is important to be connected, and how you achieve that is not important. However, I think that this doesn't really help solve the social inclusion/digital inclusion problem.
As you rightly say, some people prefer to connect conventionally whereas others prefer to connect more digitally. I think there is probably a spectrum from those who are completely offline and do everything the old-fashioned way, to those who do everything online.
That's fine, so long as you have the opportunity to be as digital as you like. The point about digital/social inclusion is that lots of people don't have the choice, so they are by default at one end of the spectrum whether they like it or not.
There's another point, which is that by learning how to connect with friends digitally you also learn generic computer skills (well, I assume you do -- I don't actually know this for certain, but wouldn't be surprised). If you know how to access email, upload photos to Flickr, or run a blog, you're probably more likely to benefit from online banking, price comparison sites and all the rest.
All Comments
As you rightly say, some people prefer to connect conventionally whereas others prefer to connect more digitally. I think there is probably a spectrum from those who are completely offline and do everything the old-fashioned way, to those who do everything online.
That's fine, so long as you have the opportunity to be as digital as you like. The point about digital/social inclusion is that lots of people don't have the choice, so they are by default at one end of the spectrum whether they like it or not.
There's another point, which is that by learning how to connect with friends digitally you also learn generic computer skills (well, I assume you do -- I don't actually know this for certain, but wouldn't be surprised). If you know how to access email, upload photos to Flickr, or run a blog, you're probably more likely to benefit from online banking, price comparison sites and all the rest.
So there's a lot to be said for digital!