East-to-west digital faultline follows split in income levels

Internet usage higher in nation’s more affluent areas

IT IS Scotland’s great digital faultline – and it divides the country neatly from from east to west.

Fully one in five people in Dumfries and Galloway and nearly as many in both East Dunbartonshire has not used the internet in the last three months.

But that figure – which includes both those who have never surfed the Web and those who have stopped doing so – plunges to just 6.5 per cent in East Lothian and Midlothian and 9.6 per cent in Aberdeenshire.

The east, it seems, online as off.

The numbers, which come from Britain’s Office of National Statistics, seem to underline that the haves and have-nots of the digital world tend to mirror those in the real, analogue one.

Policy makers increasingly see digital exclusion as a key indicator of wellbeing – up with housing or access to quality healthcare.

They fear the poor and the elderly, or elements of the poor and the elderly, are missing out on internet access most of us take for granted.

Chris Yiu, director of digital participation at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, explained: “Lots of people who don’t use the internet say it’s because they don’t see what’s in it for them.

“We reach out to people, and help them see the uses. People who haven’t got the skills tend to be older, often retired, living with a

is as rich Used Over 3 Months Ago Or Never Used Internet disability or long-term illness, or from the C2DE social grades.”

The Herald has mapped digital exclusion by local authority – and found a fairly clear correlation with median income.

Dumfries and Galloway and East Dunbartonshire – with their many pensioners – have median incomes averaging at under £10 an hour.

They also have the highest levels of internet lapsers or non-users.

Median hourly income at the 10 councils with the highest proportion of their populations online is fully £1 higher than the figure for the 10 councils with the lowest internet access.

The division isn’t just from east to west. Dumfries and Galloway lags behind neighbouring South Ayrshire in online participation by as much as six percentage points. Dumfries and Galloway’s median income is £1.68 an hour lower than South Ayrshire’s.

Aberdeenshire – which, like Dumfries and Galloway, and the Highlands – has rough, rural terrain – way outperforms the south-west.

Again, its median income much higher.

The Scottish Government and Dumfries and Galloway Council both boast of efforts to boost broadband access. However, booming purchases of smartphones could mean that access to broadband is no longer as important a factor in understanding the figures as it was in the past, said Mr Yiu.

He added: “Anecdotally, when I’m out and about meeting people using the internet for the first time, they’re often doing it on smartphones. They’re definitely improving accessibility.”

The cost of the internet, those concerned with digital exclusion argue, could be every bit as important as its speed.

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‘‘ People who haven’t got the skills tend to be older, living with a disability … or from the C2DE social grades

NINE-YEAR-OLD Kaylyn Miller eyes up some new friends at the opening of a new aquatics store in Dundee.

The youngster, from Forfar, was one of the more than 500 visitors to the new Fishkeeper Scotland shop during its opening weekend.

The store, based in Dobbies Garden Centre, offers a range of more than 5,000 exotic species.

Colin Christian, Fishkeeper Scotland regional director, said: “Our launch weekend was a huge success.

“The team has definitely got off to a great start and I’m sure it will continue to be a huge success.”