INFORMATIONAL OPULENCE, DIGITAL DIVIDE AND POVERTY

Abstract

The term “digital divide” commonly refers to the difference in accessing new information technologies between rich and poor countries. That is, the unequal distribution of digital technologies that currently govern the planetary processes of formation, archiving and dissemination of knowledge. The expression “digital divide” also refers to the uneven dissemination of the skills necessary to use IT tools to their full potential. On the other hand, Informational Opulence would seem a positive phenomenon, alternative to the more ancient and hateful scarcity. However, those who use such expression normally tend to stigmatize the huge amount of information that reaches us every day, depleting our attention resources and consequently damaging our cognitive processes. Digital divide and Informational Opulence seem therefore to be different sides of the same coin. Having too much information is like having no information – plus the illusion of being aware of what’s happening in the world and taking conscious decisions. Developing such premises, this paper aims at analyzing two different kinds of poverty, in order to investigate digital divide as a welfare and a cultural phenomenon.