The 22% Club: All Aboard for Blog Action Day
by Nick Cernis | 15 October 2008
Today’s post is written for Blog Action Day. Please take part and enjoy the read!
When Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, he could have charged for admission.
He didn’t. Yet the Web remains an exclusive cruise ship, its decks riddled with girls with Martinis, men in mankinis, games machines, and 24-hour shopping arcades: a kind of witless pleasure cruise for the world’s richest few.
But joining is so easy, isn’t it? Sign here. Plug in. 24-hour access is yours on a plate. Sprinkle on a dash of iPhone vinaigrette and the world’s in your pocket. Even your less hygienic friends are on board. Sheesh! These days, they let anyone in, right?
The 22% club
The “World Wide” Web is far more exclusive than it seems. Today, only 22% of the world’s population have internet access. Congratulations! Spray on some sun cream and grab a lounger next to the vol-au-vents. Isn’t life at the top fun?
I used to care deeply about things like the “Open Internet”; about preventing the Web from following a paid-for subscription model; about stopping it from becoming a gated community; a home to all but the richest few. But then I woke up to the fact that it already is.
If it wasn’t bad enough that 78% don’t share the same access to an imponderable stream of free video, live news and Yo Mama jokes, consider this: more than 70% of the world’s population have never even heard a dial tone. And that upsets me even more, but perhaps not for the reasons you think.
Look what they’re missing!
I’m not so worried that the 70% without phone access will never get to experience the joys of 27 missed calls and 14 garbled voicemail messages. I’m not concerned that the 78% without ‘net access will miss the chance to watch a morbidly obese man with highly animated chins dance to the Birdie Song on YouTube.
After all, for those areas where internet adoption is currently as low as 5% — like Africa — uptake is growing by over 1000% a year. They’ll catch up faster than you think. And, sadly, when they do, YouTube will still be there.
Plug in and switch off
So, while I think that it’s important to provide internet access for all as soon as we can, the real issue I’d like to raise today is this: if 78% don’t have Web access — something you and me consider a simple privilege — how many of those same people don’t have access to even more basic needs? Like food.
852 million.
That’s how many. While we’re living our online lives, there are hideously large numbers of people fighting tooth-and-claw for theirs. People who share the same planet and breathe the same air and who really need our help. And The 22% Club distracts us from that. By plugging in, we’re switching off.
Blog Action Day exists to help us all wake up to the reality.
All aboard the pleasure boat
For every billion dollars that the 22% Club spends on helping the world’s poorest people, they spend the same on pornography. We’ve got the spending power and means to end suffering faster, but many are too busy aboard their personal pleasure boats. The 22% Club isn’t just exclusive: it’s sick.
If George Orwell were on board, he’d remind us that “it is not possible for any thinking person to live in such a society as our own without wanting to change it.” What’s sad is that there aren’t enough thinking people on deck. Perhaps it’s time to change that.
Pass the muesli
I know. It’s tough talking about poverty when we’re facing a global recession. I’m still munching on the credit crunch too, and it’s pretty bitter muesli. But, the truth is, dips in our own economies only make concepts like extreme poverty easier to grasp. People are losing their jobs. Food prices are rising. Combine the two and add a dash of pessimism and people like you and me might not be able to feed ourselves or our families.
Imagine that.
You can help
Even in the face of bank bail-outs and repossessions, we’re a lucky bunch. After all, most of us can still feed ourselves. And, if you’re in the US, you’re suffering with less than 4.5% food price inflation instead of the 46.9% Ethiopians have to contend with.
The world’s most desperate are living with less than $1.25 a day, something the World Bank calls “extreme poverty”. In more human terms, it means that they’re chronically hungry and fighting for their lives.
The good news is that, while the Web is certainly exclusive, it connects those people with the power to help and lets us spread the word. As a member of The 22% Club, that means you.
What you can do
Please take positive action and read about the four ways you can make a difference today over at the Blog Action Day site, or scroll down on that page and check out their video.
I’ll be donating all of today’s proceeds from Put Things Off and Todoodlist to Oxfam.
20 comments so far:
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- Interesting Links: Blog Action Day 2008 - Practical advice on personal development, productivity and GTD
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Tested and approved
15 Oct 08
13:10
Andrea Di Tonto (McSilly)
Excellent post! Glad to see so many bloggers participating to Blog Action Day.
Also a good way to discover good blogs. For example I’m on a career break to re-balance work & life and find out what I want to do, and discovered your excellent blog. Will def keep an eye on it!
Andrea
15 Oct 08
14:10
Ankesh Kothari
Wow. Deeply moving post. Thank You for posting it.
15 Oct 08
14:10
liam
Well, this really is one of the best things I’ve read in a long time! So well written, and such sensible points. Well done for doing your bit.
15 Oct 08
14:10
kouji haiku
it’s good of you to donate those proceeds.
for my part, i turn to sites like freerice, kiva, and goodsearch, as ways to help alleviate poverty online.
saw this post via the front page of blog action day. it’s great that you’re participating. :)
15 Oct 08
14:10
Dani in NC
Great post! You managed to combine humor and statistics. I’m glad I found it.
15 Oct 08
14:10
James | Dancing Geek
(I really hope it’s not bad form for my post to be telling everyone to read yours. Because that’s what I’ve done.)
Thanks for putting some numbers and facts out there. I can understand numbers, even if what they’re telling me isn’t nice.
15 Oct 08
20:10
rjleaman
I have absolutely nothing to add to what you’ve written, Nick, but have to leave a comment just because you can’t see me jump around and cheer. Your post is so *right on* in the use of humour (and statistics) to make a desperately unfunny point - for example, this paragraph alone has a dozen lessons for communicators in it:
“For every billion dollars that the 22% Club spends on helping the world’s poorest people, they spend the same on pornography. We’ve got the spending power and means to end suffering faster, but many are too busy aboard their personal pleasure boats. The 22% Club isn’t just exclusive: it’s sick.”
Well, that’s just it in a nutshell, isn’t it?
16 Oct 08
03:10
Sunili
Like Dani, I am also impressed with way you used the numbers to really bring the point home. Great post, as uuuuusual.
I found out about Kiva through doing this and that’s just one example of a positive outcome from Blog Action Day — I am so glad I took part!
16 Oct 08
05:10
Seamus Anthony
I wonder if we can’t all get together and organise an ongoing % of blog earnings charity?
16 Oct 08
08:10
Mah
Spot on. I don’t know about others but I certainly needed a reminder of how blessed we are.
Many thanks and keep up the good work…you must!
Mah
16 Oct 08
12:10
Tess
Like others, I think this is absolutely right. I was shocked by the 22% figure - didn’t think it would be that low.
We truly are blessed.
16 Oct 08
14:10
Nick Cernis
Thanks for reading and for the kind words, everyone. Through this post I raised just over $100 for Oxfam (100% of the profits from this site on October 15th).
Next time I’ll think of a way to make more!
[Edit] For those interested in my sources, the global internet usage stats came from here: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Most of the other more shocking stats were taken from “50 Facts that Should Change the World” by Jessica Williams; a book I’d thoroughly recommend, even though it makes for scary reading.
1 Nov 08
13:11
Jarkko Laine
Coming in a bit late, first I have to say that I agree 100% with you, Nick. We’re a lucky bunch to be admitted in the 22% club. And it’s important to realize that we can use that club to help the remaining 78%.
But it also made me think of something different. Maybe it’s the business man inside me, but I got thinking that because the poor are not using the Internet, it should be perfectly OK to charge for some of the content. Most of the readers who now want to get everything for free would, in fact, have enough money to pay for the content they value. Like your blog posts.
And then… If people used their money on quality blogging instead of pornography, first of all, they’d be better off. But the bloggers could also spend that money to making a difference and helping more people join the club of people who have enough to eat.
Thanks for the thought!
24 Nov 08
13:11
GeographyMan
Interesting article; although the last time I checked Africa was a continent, containing several countries. Remember a thousand steps forward can be ended by a clumsy step.
24 Nov 08
13:11
Nick Cernis
@GeographyMan - Good catch! I’ve amended the text accordingly.