Dreaming of a digital 2023

For several years now, the world of telecommunications has flooded us with concepts that try to make it easier to understand the benefits of technology. It has become recurring to hear about the digital divide, accessibility, the Internet as a human right or how the pandemic has led us to a new reality. The implicit message is that progress continues despite the obstacles that one wants to consider, both real and imagined.

Technology is advancing by leaps and bounds so that the disconnected begin to benefit from promised economic growth in figures that are not understood by many of those who make it a priority to know where they will get the next tortillas and beans to feed their children.

The difficult thing is how to approach a problem that is already defined. The evils that surround each of the aforementioned concepts are already known. It is not news for anyone to know that there is no longer talk of a digital divide limited to having access or not to Internet services. Digital gaps are now recognized where tangible aspects such as infrastructure and access devices are accompanied by intangible inputs provided by different types of software.

Likewise, it is common knowledge that the new normality is an urban phenomenon with broad elitist traits. I simply observe in those households with the resources to pay for a high-speed Internet connection, with the necessary device to be able to do work from home and, even meeting these two requirements, only those individuals with a job that allows them to do their functions without the need to be physically present in a specific location. The rest of the population read and listened to this new normal, perhaps thinking if it was a mockery. Perhaps they were wondering if those who talk so much about the new normality really are so disconnected from reality.

With this scenario the days, weeks and months passed. Each one knowing what were the evils that surrounded the world of ICT and telecommunications. However, with very little effort to begin to implement the solutions that have been raised year after year for the same ills. The reality is that, not having any figure willing to break the status quo to really boost connectivity.

The excuses to justify neglect are many. There are those who argue that the legal framework is wrong and should be modernized. Until this modernization occurs, little or nothing can be done to improve the adoption of digital services. The fact that money transfer systems with 2G technologies have become popular in other geographies is not important; what is imperative is to change the existing regulatory framework.

Others talk about the problems that exist due to the lack of commitment of some of the actors in the sector. It is like a never-ending novel in which everyone is to blame, but no one assumes it. This exchange of accusations has been disguised as the best 80s or 70s messages that can be conceived. Since promoting connectivity and implementing measures focused on benefiting consumers is part of a Machiavellian plan germinated in the Washington Consensus, even those who consider that the expansion of rural connectivity through subsidies is a leftist scheme that seeks for inefficient methods make an asymmetric distribution of state resources. When it comes to making excuses or washing your hands, there is no shortage of creativity.

However, all this dynamic leaves us stranded at the same starting point. How to make this essential dialogue between governments, the private sector, civil society and academia happen? How to achieve them when there is so much mistrust and resentment between these different interlocutors? How to integrate the short-term agendas that some public policy decision makers may have with those of the medium and long term that the private sector or the academic sector might have? How to remember the human being in all these discussions?

Unfortunately, there are no satisfactory answers to many of these questions. We continue to wish for cooperation that does not materialize, hearing about 5G and artificial intelligence, when we still cannot figure out how to use it for supposedly mundane but extremely important issues such as illiteracy, linguistic inclusion of indigenous communities and poverty reduction.

It is very nice to talk about technology and human rights or the possibilities of digital transformation. However, every time these issues are discussed, I hope that the interlocutors do not forget that the objective of all these decisions and strategies is to benefit the human being. Perhaps a more anthropocentric and less technocentric digital approach is what is needed. Perhaps this is how we can get Mexico to have a national digital agenda that talks about expanding network coverage, democratizing services through electronic government platforms and improving the quality of life of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens through initiatives in education, health and job creation supported by technology. If at least one of these wishes is fulfilled in 2023, we will already be better than what we experienced in 2022.