How millions of people are at risk of being locked out of society

Digital exclusion is a real risk.

Earlier this week it was revealed that visitors and residents in Paris would need to show a QR code on their phone to enter certain parts of the city.

The temporary requirement is part of security measures being put in place around this summer’s Olympic games, but the move offers a stark glimpse into a future in which those who are unable to keep up with technology – or choose not to – are at risk of digital exclusion. They will, in effect, become locked out of society.

To those with a smartphone, flashing a QR code may not seem that big a deal, but as was shown during Covid, when QRs helped the world open up again, not everyone has a compatible phone – or even a phone at all.

This left some unable to confirm their Covid-free status, or see a menu while eating out to help out. 

Two years on, that particular pandemic habit has stuck, with many restaurants still choosing a QR code on the table over a paper menu. Ordering, too, is often now done via an app.

Putting to one side the open goal this leaves for scammers to stick their own QRs over the real thing, this not only further reduces facetime with real people that so many in society value, but excludes those who cannot afford or choose not to own a smartphone. 

True, few restaurants would refuse to serve a customer entirely for lack of a device, but this is just one scenario.

Increasingly, car parks are doing away with traditional cash-based machines in favour of QR codes or apps, allowing drivers to pay for their tickets online. Very handy for most, including the growing number of people who never carry cash. But with many car parks unmanned, this renders them completely inaccessible for some.

That is one issue Linda Parker worries will cause problems for her father.

‘Fortunately my dad has a Blue Badge, so he can usually park for free without registering,’ says Linda, a later life coach who helps carers of elderly parents craft and enjoy their own happier later life.

‘But he doesn’t have a smartphone and would struggle to use a parking machine that needed registration and payment details. I can see how this would hinder people’s independence – even if you are well enough to drive and go out alone, you can’t because of the technology.’

Linda now also manages her dad’s prescription because the service is now entirely digital.

‘His regular medication needs to be ordered online,’ she says. ‘I have to be linked to his account on my NHS app to order repeat prescriptions. He was quite capable of dropping a paper copy of his prescription into the surgery, but he can no longer do this independently.

‘For most of us, doing everything online is convenient – going on the internet instead of queuing for 25 minutes. But for some people it means being less independent, and needing other people to do their admin.’

Banking is another area in which Linda helps her father, and where many people now struggle. 

Today marks the 6,000th local bank branch closure in the past nine years, according to Which?, leaving dozens of entire parliamentary constituencies without a single branch.

For those unwilling or unable to switch to online banking, this makes accessing services significantly more difficult, often costing them money in the process.

And while digital exclusion may often be seen as an age issue, it is not.

In the first year of the cost of living crisis, one million people cut back or cancelled their broadband packages to save money, and as of June 2023, 1.7 million households had no internet access.

Those figures were provided by the Communications and Digital Committee, which in a report released last year stated that the government has ‘no credible strategy’ to tackle digital exclusion. It added, rather starkly, that the government ‘should not assume digital exclusion will be solved as older generations leave the workforce or die’.

This was never more evident than during lockdown, when student life from primary school to university moved online.

And while digital exclusion has myriad causes, at the root of it is access to the internet. Sometimes, it is the infrastructure itself holding people back.

Nell Watson, an AI expert and tech ethicist, warns of an upcoming change that will disadvantage rural communities.

‘Authorities are trying to shut down 3G to provide more bandwidth for other, faster services,’ she says. ‘But the nice thing about 3G is that it has long-distance penetration, it can go quite far from the mast, and through walls much easier than 4G, and especially 5G, which is a very short-range technology.

‘That means 3G is something a lot of people depend on, particularly in rural areas, so these people are going to be left in dire straits, because suddenly their technology won’t work, and their phone might be a lifeline for them.’

The 3G shutdown has already started across major networks in the UK, although many are maintaining coverage in rural areas, for now.

As Nell adds, many smart meters also run on 3G, meaning soon millions of the devices will be left redundant and possibly heading for landfill – a blow for the environment they’re intended to help.

Nell, whose new book Taming The Machine: Ethically Harness The Power Of AI investigates both the pros and cons of this game-changing technology, also highlights how the advance of artificial intelligence could further isolate those already digitally excluded. This might be difficulty dealing with AI assistants online, or failing to play the new game of ‘beat the AI recruiter’ to get their job application in front of a real person.

Even before the point of application, potential candidates need to find the job advert, 90% of which are now online. That leaves those with no internet access at an insurmountable disadvantage.

And while there are legitimate concerns over the vast troves of data being collected for machine learning, which must be addressed, it will continue to happen. That means those who are not online will be excluded from those datasets, leaving them further behind as decisions by governments and businesses are increasingly made using this information.

As this shows, digital exclusion is much more than simply not having a smartphone or online banking, although both are common yet easy-to-fix symptoms. 

It is a societal problem, not a personal one, and needs addressing by governments at all levels.