COVID-19 and Emerging Platform Societies: The digital divide and pandemic inequalities

This presentation will begin with a general overview of the digital divide – what it is, why it matters, and how it looked before the pandemic. The presentation will then shift to a more detailed discussion of how the pandemic has not only led to new forms of digital inequality, but has also exacerbated many of the already existing ones. Particular attention will be paid to how the pandemic, and especially the associated pandemic-preventative measures, impacted issues of employment, education, entertainment, access to survival goods and services, information, relationships, and the role of social media.