How to overcome the digital divide

It is easy to think of children and young people as “digital natives”, navigating the internet with ease. But this is a misconception, explains Theo Blackwell, chief digital officer for London. “We know children often are very adept at some parts of internet access but less so in others,” he says. The pandemic has made it impossible to ignore the fact a significant proportion of children and young people face barriers to digital inclusion, affecting their education, wellbeing and ability to make their voices heard.

“It became very clear how much of an impact digital poverty was having on a whole other host of social issues,” says Cathryn Moses-Stone, head of policy and public affairs at Catch22, which has partnered with Nominet and Livity on research into the barriers to digital skills and access for some of the most disadvantaged groups in the UK. “We had child sexual exploitation team key workers who couldn’t get in touch with young people, we had care leavers who had to choose between paying for the internet or paying for heating.”