Digital lives of the poor
Through a novel app developed to investigate real-time smartphone usage, the researchers identified a hitherto-undetected barrier to digital information access by the poor: data shortages.
The challenge:
A great deal of existing research investigates strategies to alleviate poverty that focus on the economics of financial inclusion. Many such strategies feature the use of smartphones in delivering life-improving information services to poorer consumers but because little is known about how the poor interact with the digital world, much of this research remains untested in a real-world context.
Through a novel app developed to investigate real-time smartphone usage, the researchers identified a hitherto-undetected barrier to digital information access by the poor: data shortages.
The challenge:
A great deal of existing research investigates strategies to alleviate poverty that focus on the economics of financial inclusion. Many such strategies feature the use of smartphones in delivering life-improving information services to poorer consumers but because little is known about how the poor interact with the digital world, much of this research remains untested in a real-world context.
The research:
Through a novel app developed to investigate real-time smartphone usage, the researchers identified a hitherto-undetected barrier to digital information access by the poor: data shortages. By analysing over 9.4 million minutes of smartphone usage data from 929 residents of a Mumbai settlement, the study found that, under universally adopted monthly data plans, low-income individuals binge on YouTube and social media, spending 61% of their phone time (data) on entertainment. This results in data shortages and information isolation towards the end of the plan period, which can have a significant impact on users’ capacity to access essential health services and earn income. On the other hand, participants who were randomly assigned to a plan with daily data caps did not face the same data shortages.
The impact:
The researchers found that pacing access to life-improving information translated into real-life behaviour, such as health-camp attendance, which suggests that daily data-cap plans could expand the effectiveness of smartphone-based interventions increasingly used to reach the poor. The findings have significant implications not only for smartphone users in impoverished communities, but also for telecoms providers. Capped plans are inherently cheaper to provide, so offering them could enable telecoms companies to increase customer value and expand access for low income consumers.
