After Thomas Edison invented electricity in 1879, some streets in New York City began to enjoy the fruits of this new technology in 1882 with the first large scale central station installed on Pearl Street to 85 customers. After this life changing invention and many other subsequent technological advances, the American people had to wait another 112 years before they were able to have access to the internet through the first commercialized web browser, Netscape Navigator released in 1994. Of course, internet technology had already been in development for decades, but it was not until 1994 that the technology was truly available to the general public. During that span of over 100 years, the United States went through many periods of development and managed to achieve 50 percent urbanization in 1920.[1] Compared to the United States, Southeast Asia has seen a much lower pace of technological development. In some parts of the region such as secluded highlands and islands, there is still no electricity for everyday use. People in many places are still using firewood for cooking and are still traveling on dirt roads. In fact, Southeast Asia was estimated to achieve 50 percent urbanization only in 2019, 99 years after the United States.[2] Despite the huge discrepancy between the United States and Southeast Asia in terms of history of technological advancement, the region is quickly getting on the train of digital development.
With a total population
of nearly 700 million as of August 2020,[3]
Southeast Asia is the third most populous geographical region in the world,
only behind South and East Asia. Technological development in the region is
also as varied as all the other dimensions of Southeast Asian life. Despite the
fact that urbanization in Southeast Asia is only about 50 percent, internet
penetration has already reached nearly 66 percent at the beginning of 2020[4]
with double-digit growth in most segments and most countries of the region.[5]
Brunei leads the region in internet penetration at 95 percent.[6]
Digital development in the region, however, is not even. While the regional
internet penetration is higher than the global average (57 percent), several
countries in the region fall quite far below the global average, with Timor
Leste,[7]
Myanmar[8]
and Laos,[9]
having internet penetration at only 39 percent, 41 percent, and 43 percent,
respectively. Nonetheless, the growth rate across the region is high, and with
so many Southeast Asians getting online, the region presents itself as the
third-largest market globally. According to experts, the internet economy is
expected to reach $300 billion by 2025.[10]
Chapter from the book: Religion and Society in the Digital Age (Moldova: Eliva Press, 2020).
For full article, email: leducsvd.arc@gmail.com
[1] US
Census, “Urban and Rural Areas,” https://www.census.gov/history/www/programs/geography/urban_and_rural_areas.html#:~:text=%22Urban%22%20was%20defined%20as%20including,population%20was%20defined%20as%20urban.
[2]
“Southeast Asia and Sustainable Urbanization,” Global Asia,
https://www.globalasia.org/v9no3/feature/southeast-asia-and-sustainable-urbanization_bharat-dahiya#:~:text=Estimates%20show%20that%20Southeast%20Asia,urban%20population%20to%20330%20million.&text=Between%201950%20and%202014%2C%20the,26%20million%20to%20294%20million.
[3]
“Southeast Asian Population,” Worldometers, http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/south-eastern-asia-population/
[4] We
Are Social, January 2020, https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/01/digital-2020-3-8-billion-people-use-social-media
[5]
Atzlan Othman, “Facebook most popular social mediate platform in the
Sultanate,” Borneo Bulletin. https://borneobulletin.com.bn/facebook-most-popular-social-media-platform-in-the-sultanate/, (May
19, 2018).
[6]
“Digital 2020: Brunei,” (18 February 2020), https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-brunei-darussalam#:~:text=There%20were%20413.0%20thousand%20internet,at%2095%25%20in%20January%202020.
[7]
“Digital 2020: Timor Leste,” Datareportal (18 February 2020), https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-timor-leste
[8]
“Digital 2020: Myanmar,” Datareportal (18 February 2020), https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-myanmar
[9]
“Digital 2020: Laos,” Datareportal (18 February 2020), https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-laos
[10]
“Southeast Asia’s internet economy to hit $300 billion by 2025: report,”
Reuters (3 October 2019), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southeast-asia-internet/southeast-asias-internet-economy-to-hit-100-billion-this-year-report-idUSKBN1WI07X#:~:text=Southeast%20Asia's%20internet%20economy%20to%20hit%20%24300%20billion%20by%202025%3A%20report,-Aradhana%20Aravindan&text=SINGAPORE%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20Southeast%20Asia's,industry%20report%20said%20on%20Thursday.
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