More than 400 million "non-netizens", how to embrace the Internet era
In 2020, an epidemic has accelerated more Chinese people to adapt to "cloud" life, but it also exposed the ever-increasing digital divide.
Do you remember: children in remote mountainous areas climbed to the top of the mountain to find cell phone signals for online lessons?
Elderly people do not use smartphones and cannot show their health codes, so travel is blocked?
China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the 47th "Statistical Report on Internet Development in China" on the 3rd, showing that as of December 2020, the number of Internet users in my country has reached 989 million, the number of mobile Internet users has reached 986 million, and the Internet penetration rate has reached 70.4 %.
This means that behind the huge data of nearly 1 billion Internet users, there are more than 400 million people who have yet to embark on the "highway" of the Internet age.
Why don't more than 400 million people go online?
The "Statistical Report on China's Internet Development Status" shows that from a regional perspective, my country's non-netizens are still dominated by rural areas, and the proportion of non-netizens in rural areas is 62.7%, which is 23.3 percentage points higher than the national rural population.
Lack of skills, limited education, age and insufficient equipment have become the main reasons why non-netizens do not go online.
They may not be able to use computers and mobile phones, lack of Internet access equipment, or do not understand Chinese Pinyin, or because they are too young...the constraints of objective conditions have created obstacles for non-netizens to integrate into the Internet.
From the perspective of age distribution, the elderly people aged 60 and above are the main group of non-netizens.
As of December 2020, my country's non-netizens aged 60 and above accounted for 46.0% of the total non-netizens.
In addition to objective reasons, the subjective attitude of some people has also become the reason for their refusal to use the Internet.
He Yanzhe, deputy director of the Evaluation Laboratory of the Trust Security Center of the China Electronics Standardization Institute, said that some older people lack interest in the Internet and worry about the risks of going online, so they choose to stay away from the online world.
Times troubles of non-netizens
Online payment, mobile payment, scan code ordering, distance learning, handheld medical care...In a modern society where food, clothing, housing, and transportation are inseparable from the Internet, non-netizens cannot access the Internet and cannot fully enjoy the intelligent service experience.
Since 2020, the new crown pneumonia epidemic has accelerated the digital transformation of individuals, enterprises to the government, and has also further magnified the problems of the era of non-netizens.
In Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, herders who have lived on the grasslands for generations had to pack up their yurts to find a net for their daughters to go online. In Yichang, Hubei, a grandfather used a mobile phone to follow signals to find the mountains and set up an online class tent for his granddaughter. ; In Harbin, Heilongjiang, an old man was unable to scan the health code on a bus and refused to get off the bus. The driver had no choice but to call the police.
"There is a net to travel all over the world, and it is difficult to move without a net."
The existence of a large number of non-netizens indicates that the Internet infrastructure still has weak areas.
According to the "Statistical Report on the Development of the Internet in China", non-netizens believe that among the various inconveniences caused by not surfing the Internet, some public places without a "health code" rank first, accounting for 27.2% of non-netizens; second is the lack of cash. Payments accounted for 25.8% of non-netizens; 24.9% of non-netizens who could not buy tickets and could not register their account; and the reduction of offline service outlets caused difficulties in handling affairs and the inability to obtain information in time were 24.6% and 22.9%.
"The capacity of a wooden barrel depends on the shortest plank." The Internet has not only brought the difference between "convenience" and "inconvenience" to modern society, but also related to education fairness, cultural inclusiveness, and social justice gain and happiness.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical period for my country to move from building a well-off society in an all-round way to basically realizing socialist modernization. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has stated that it will promote the digital transformation of existing infrastructure and build a new generation of information infrastructure application ecology.
Lei Chaozi, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, said that the Ministry of Education will coordinate relevant departments to support the construction of a dedicated education network, and build a fast, stable, green, safe, manageable and controllable national education during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. The dedicated network provides access to all levels and types of schools and rural teaching points, providing every child with equal access to high-quality educational resources.
The resource sharing of online classrooms, the public welfare performances of the Cloud Theater, the "online trial of online cases" of the Internet court... The continuous advancement of the network business will light up the light of the Internet for more non-netizens.
Further development requires more care
Bridging the "digital divide" requires not only to further improve the level of Internet infrastructure, but also to improve the cultural and educational level of non-netizens and the use of digital technology, develop more intelligent and humanized products and services for the elderly, and improve the convenience of network services Various methods such as the level of globalization have helped non-netizens share the huge dividends of the digital age.
The "Implementation Plan on Effectively Solving the Difficulties of the Elderly in Using Intelligent Technology" issued by the General Office of the State Council in 2020 focuses on 7 types of high-frequency matters and service scenarios involving travel, medical treatment, consumption, entertainment, and service in the daily life of the elderly, and adheres to the traditional The service mode and intelligent service innovation are parallel, and various service measures for the elderly are refined.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has made it clear that from January 2021, a one-year "Special Action for Ageing and Accessibility of Internet Applications" will be launched nationwide. The first batch of 115 public service categories closely related to the work and life of the elderly will be completed. The website and 43 mobile apps are suitable for aging and barrier-free transformation.
Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and many other places have also carried out activities to popularize the daily application of intelligent technology for the elderly, organized lectures and training guidance, and provided other people's agency services to facilitate the elderly and bridge the "digital divide."
"Don't blindly force everything to be handled online. Humane arrangements should be made for the real needs of non-netizens." He Yanzhe pointed out that compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, the proportion of Internet users in my country is not low. It should be tailored to national conditions and local conditions. For example, in the process of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, we should guide people who can bring goods in rural areas to help fathers and villagers who don’t know the Internet to introduce products live.
Producer: Zhao Cheng Producer: Wu Huanqing Coordinator: Wu Jing
Reporter: Wang Peng, Yu Junjie Editor: Shao Yibo
Produced by Xinhua News Agency