Key Idea: Socially, the pattern is finding people is a gain, amplifying is a choice, and what surrounds a tool decides who benefits from it. Three divides, not one.
Paper 1
- Part a: outline a benefit for minorities, or distinguish the divides
- Part b: explain how ranking increases hostility
- Part c: evaluate device programmes or parental monitoring
Paper 2
- Q2: explain a claim about division or inequality
- Q3: compare sources on family monitoring
- Q4: synthesise sources on digital inequality
Everywhere else
- Identity: this is identity at group scale
- Education: the second divide is where outcomes are decided
- HL 5.1: inequality is the Paper 3 version of this topic
Three divides, and which one gets counted
| Divide | The question | Why it persists |
|---|---|---|
| First — access | Do you have a device and a connection? | Cost of devices and connection |
| Second — use | What can you do with it? | Skills, time and support |
| Third — outcome | What do you get out of it? | Whether it converts into work, money or study |
They close the first divide, which is also the only one that is easy to count and report, and leave the other two exactly where they were.
The chain from finding to hostility
Four steps, and only one is a choice
- Find each other — valuable, especially for anybody rare where they live.
- Get shown more — a by-product of measuring engagement; nobody chose to narrow anything.
- Define against another group — material about an opponent holds attention better, so the ranking favours it. This step is the design decision.
- Stop meeting them — what you know of them now comes from your own side, which nobody there checks.
Important: Platforms amplify division rather than causing it. That is narrower, better evidenced, and it points at one specific change — what gets rewarded — that leaves the benefits intact.
Exam-style questions
Compare and contrast the effect of digital technologies on family relationships and on friendships.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Justify the claim that providing devices is the least effective way to reduce digital inequality.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Quick check
The three divides Access, use, outcome. Only the first is easy to count.
Which step in the hostility chain is a choice? What gets rewarded. Hostile material holds attention, so the ranking favours it.
Which difference compounds fastest? Having somebody to ask — being stuck ends one session and costs another three minutes.
What does monitoring a child cost? Being trusted, which is how a young person learns to make a decision nobody will check.
Exam tips
- Say which divide a proposal addresses. It is worth a mark on its own in most plans.
- Separate finding from amplifying in any question about online groups.
- 'Scheduled contact, not unplanned presence' keeps family answers precise instead of sentimental.