"The idea that there is a dividing line between those who have Internet and those who do not is Medieval. What is left now is the generational transition. " Who said this is the renowned sociologist and economist, Manuel Castells, author of The Information Age, at a conference that addressed two major global processes: Social Inequality and Digital Communication, in the cycle "Fighting inequalities, the Great Global Challenge ", Organized by the Fundació Catalunya Europa with the support of la Caixa, Barcelona City Council, Generalitat de Catalunya and Club of Rome.
The Internet, says Castells, is the fastest broadcasting technology in history. Currently, 5,000 million users and 7,000 million mobile subscribers are counted. The impact of this technology is so great, that a study done in Latin America shows that people prioriteces the capacity of mobile communication to food. It is what Castells calls permanent connectivity.
But despite rapid technological expansion globally, inequalities not only persist but also increase. The key is not in the connection per se but in how we use it in terms of information, signals and content. It is here, where culture and communication play a fundamental role. "Internet inequality is linked to the cultural capital of families," says Manuel Castells. As Melvin Kranzberg theorized: "technology is neither good nor bad, but neither is it neutral. Like every tool, you need an application framework. "
By genres, inequality is produced is not in use, already in the same educational level differences are detected, but in other terms. For example, there is an antifemenine systematic bias in engineering schools around the world. This bias is even more important in the world of hackers, where the few women who move around do not usually reveal their gender. Or the world of video games, which represents 25% of Internet traffic, is still extremely masculine.
Internet expansion has also led to important changes in the way of working and learning from new generations. "What is learning in a world where all the information is on the Internet?" Castells asks. "The new generations, have less capacity to memorize but exponentially increase the ability to recombine, which is the basis of creativity. The human brain is much more powerful and creative than the machines".
Undoubtedly, this paradigm shift is entailing accelerated social changes. The supposed destruction of jobs is one of the main concerns. For Castells, this is a false myth. According to several studies, the most advanced companies increase the jobs. But the increase in productivity that allows the generation of new jobs does not originate only in technology, but that there is a need for organizational rethinking at a business level. According to Castells, it is essential to accompany the technological transition of an educational and educational transition. "There are two types of workers, the self-programmed ones, that is, people with a capacity to resituate themselves, to seek new jobs and generics, which can be replaced by any other worker or possibly by a machine." This division is the one that causes us to have one of the highest inequality indexes in history.
