Give two groups the same new technology and the gap between them usually grows. Nobody is excluded and nobody is targeted — the group that already had more converts it into more.
Equal access meeting unequal ability to convert it — and the three places an intervention can go.
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What turning a tool into an advantage needs
- Time that is not already spoken for, which is the resource most unevenly distributed of all.
- Skills to use it beyond the basics, which are learned from people around you rather than from the tool.
- Contacts who can act on what you produce, since a good application still has to reach somebody.
- Room to fail, because trying something that might not work is only possible if failure is affordable.
The pattern to expect: A widening gap after a neutral technology arrives is the normal result rather than the surprising one. An HL answer that treats it as an accident has misread the mechanism.
Know your predicted grade
Take timed mock exams and get detailed feedback on every answer. See exactly where you're losing marks.
Real-world examples you can name
The people still offline — ITU Facts and Figures — 2023 estimate
The International Telecommunication Union estimated roughly 2.6 billion people had never used the internet, with the gap concentrated in low-income countries and, within countries, among women, rural populations and older people.
Who it affected: About a third of humanity, who cannot reach services the rest treat as default.
M-Pesa mobile money — launched 2007
Money is sent as a text message and cashed in or out at a local agent, so a phone becomes a bank account without a bank. Research has linked it to households moving out of extreme poverty, particularly those headed by women.
Who it affected: People with a phone but no bank branch within reach.
Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine — from February 2022
Low-earth-orbit satellite terminals restored connectivity where ground infrastructure had been destroyed. Because coverage decisions rested with a single private company, they also became decisions about the conduct of a war.
Who it affected: Ukrainian civilians and military units relying on the link.
| Lever | What it reaches | Why it is chosen anyway |
|---|---|---|
| Give access | The first divide only | It is countable, so it can be reported |
| Build ability to convert | The second divide | Slow, and hard to show in a photograph |
| Change what it rewards | Everybody at once | It requires changing the system, not the people |
The inequalities the guide names
Economic inequality
Gaps in income and wealth, and stratification into groups with very different chances; digital skills now help decide pay.
Food insecurity
Not enough safe, nutritious food; apps that share surplus food and price-alert texts for farmers are digital responses.
Health care and medicine
Telemedicine and mobile clinics reach places without doctors.
How this is tested — HL asks you to choose an intervention and defend it, and the defence is where the marks are. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 Section B — extended response
- Extended response on a global challenge
- Concepts used explicitly rather than implied
Paper 3 — the intervention paper
- Recommend an intervention for a described situation
- Justify it, including what it will not reach
The trap: the countable intervention: Handing out devices is easy to measure and changes least. Say why you are aiming somewhere harder to count.
Explain one reason why equal access to a technology can widen inequality.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.
Recommend one intervention to reduce digital inequality in a country, and justify it.
Model answer plan
See the answer broken into clear points, with guidance on how each point earns marks.
Four kinds of intervention
Mitigates
Reduces the harm: flood alerts by text message.
Intercedes
Changes the process causing it: a law requiring repairable phones.
Enhances
Strengthens what already works: an app linking food banks with surplus food.
Resolves
Removes the problem itself, which is rare and worth saying so.
Six criteria for judging an intervention
Equity
Does it meet the needs of all the people affected, fairly and inclusively?
Acceptability
Do the affected people and communities accept it?
Cost
What does it cost, and who pays?
Feasibility
Can it actually be built, run and kept going here?
Innovation
Is it new, or has it been tried and failed? Incremental or disruptive?
Ethics
Is it ethically sound, and who decides that?