JAMAICA, regrettably, is woefully behind in using the new information and communications technology (ICT) to promote economic, social and cultural development.

In fact, we are doing precious little to close the “digital divide” between ourselves and the developed world and are way behind many developing countries that are using ICT for aggressive modernisation.

Regrettably, access to and use of ICT has widened the class and income differences in Jamaica, with the higher income social strata having much more availability and consequently are more informed than their less prosperous fellow citizens.

It is true that computers and Internet use is prohibitive for the poor but the main constraint is not the paucity of financial resources. It is a problem of computer illiteracy. Thankfully, it is not too late to make computer literacy a priority in Jamaica. In any case, the hardware, software and services are becoming more affordable each day.

The percentage of African-Americans using the Internet on their mobile phones on the average day has increased 141 per cent since 2007. Their high level of activity on mobile devices helps offset lower levels of access to the Internet through more expensive desktop computers and laptops.

Some 60 per cent of white Americans go online using a computer, compared with 45 per cent of blacks. When mobile devices are included in the mix, the gap is cut in half with 60 per cent of whites compared with 55 per cent of black Americans.

The real explanations are the failure to recognise the importance of ICT in economic development in a globalising world economy in which technological change is constant and rapid. The failure of recognition is both at the level of government and society.

Bad enough that 84 per cent of Jamaicans do not have Internet access at home, but even if they did, 40 per cent do not know how to use the Internet, and worse, 22 per cent are not interested in learning to use it. And many of those who do, fritter away valuable time playing games and circulating salacious gossip.

Meanwhile, there is no film clip of Norman Manley, Sir Alexander Bustamante or Marcus Garvey on YouTube. We are asleep at the keyboard!

The Jamaican Government must give more attention to the role of ICT in economic development. ICT is at the very core of the operation of global economic activity. In this milieu, the type and amount of information and the speed with which it can be accessed, transmitted and employed in economic decisionmaking determines gains and losses and separates the winners and losers in the global economy.

ICT is a key driver to improving international competitiveness in the short run and can make important contributions to building a knowledge economy in which productivity can be continually improved in keeping with global standards.

The fundamental development dilemma of the modern era is how developing countries like Jamaica can extricate themselves from being a “digital Diaspora” and leapfrog the outdated or redundant aspects of ICT development.

First, there must be the recognition of a problem and the importance of fixing it. Second, there must be the formulation of a pragmatic policy. Third, there must be implementation without which ICT development will be a hallucination, ie a digital mirage drifting and mutating in the digital divide while Jamaica continues to be complacently cosseted in its digital Diaspora.