Page 122 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Figure III: Countries with Nearly 90% of Adult Population Using Smart
Phones (March 2015)

Source: http://www.google.com.sg/publicdata/explore

Countries such as Singapore, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the closest to
reaching the tipping point of 90% of the adult population using smart phones (Figure III).
Society is headed towards adopting even faster machines that will allow users to perform complicated
tasks on the go. Most likely, the number of devices that each person uses will grow strongly, not only
with new functions performed but also with specialization of tasks.

Positive Impacts
– More economic participation of disadvantaged populations located in remote or underdeveloped
regions (“last mile”)
– Access to education, healthcare and government services
– Presence
– Access to skills, greater employment, shift in types of jobs
– Expanded market size/e-commerce
– More information
– More civic participation
– Democratization/political shifts
– “Last mile”: increased transparency and participation versus an increase in manipulation and echo
chambers

Negative impacts
– Increased manipulation and echo chambers
– Political fragmentation
– Walled gardens (i.e. limited environments, for authenticated users only) do not allow full access in
some regions/countries

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