The struggle for digital inclusion: Phones, healthcare, and marginalisation in rural India

摘要

The gains from digital technology diffusion are deemed essential for international development, but they are also distributed unevenly. Does the uneven distribution mean that not everyone benefits from new technologies to the same extent, or do some people experience an absolute disadvantage during this process? I explore this question through the case study of curative healthcare access in the context of rapid mobile phone uptake in rural India, contributing thus to an important yet surprisingly under -researched aspect of the social implications of (mobile) technology diffusion.