The COVID-19 Pandemic has displayed a significant impact on the digital divide of our modern society at the current time.  Before the COVID-19 Pandemic struck us, the digital divide was already a big issue, especially in developing countries and there were already notable disparities in the usage of media all over the entire world. For example, some rural communities or other ethnic groups were less likely to have access to fast internet, digital devices, and social media and are rather much more accustomed to the “old and primitive” ways.

          However, during the pandemic, technology and media became a lot more frequent around the globe and were sometimes used as alternatives to many face-to-face occasions since it was not safe to conduct them at that time. Many education systems and workplaces shifted to an online setup at the moment in order to continue teaching children and carry on with their businesses. Although our society was able to cope and find ways to continue work, the COVID-19 Pandemic exposed the digital divide and how much larger of a problem it has become (Broom, 2020). In accordance with this, it exposed that individuals who lacked reliable internet and technology faced many challenges such as not being able to keep up with their job responsibilities or attend online classes.  The pandemic was able to highlight how important it really was to acquire digital literacy skills since many individuals were required to learn them in order to stay in touch with one another. It had become a basic need for almost everyone (UW Bothell, 2021). Ever since then, the use of technology and media has been more popular around the world yet others still lack the important factors to be able to use it themselves thus making them somewhat separated from the rest of society.

           As a student and someone who uses the internet regularly, I would truly say that this is incredibly unfair to those who lack proper access to the internet. According to John Roese (2021), he stated that he used to believe that technology had the ability to do lots of good and was a great equalizer rather than a source of division, but there was a large gap between those who have access to the internet and those who do not which made him think otherwise. As time passes, our world is becoming a much more modern and technological society which is why it is extremely important that individuals all over the world should have access to the internet. In addition to this, the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) has recently started a project on spreading free wifi sites across the Philippines in order to spread media to those who would benefit from it (Piad, 2023). Projects like these are what help give our less fortunate brothers and sisters the opportunity to apply media and its uses for themselves. 

            If we really want to help build the bridge to defeating the digital divide and bringing our less fortunate brothers and sisters back on track, we must not lose hope and find ways to help make media and technology much more accessible to others. Everyone deserves to be given the chance to become effective members of our communities and society.