An inverted digital divide during Covid-19 pandemic? Evidence from a panel of EU countries

Abstract

The extension of remote forms of employment, education and communication during the Covid-19 pandemic was expected to bridge the digital divide in 2020. However, more digitally developed countries have shown a reduction of Internet use. This article examines the changes in Internet use in 2020 as the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic focused on cross-country digital development. We use a random effects regression model to assess the relationship between Internet use as an indicator of digital divide and digital development on the macro, business, infrastructural, and individual levels in EU countries. Panel data from Eurostat for 2014-2020 are applied. We found that more digitally developed EU countries, including Estonia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, show a higher relationship between Internet usage and digital performance than other EU countries. These countries saw a decrease in Internet use during 2020, which is contrary to the general trend of either increasing or unchanging Internet use in the case of social distancing restrictions and lockdowns. High digital dependence in more digitally developed countries, and in some other EU countries in the context of a pandemic as a crisis, has led to a reduction in Internet use due to the vulnerability of digitalized industries, enterprises, jobs and personal patterns that may identify the new challenge as inverted digital divide.

Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic; Digital dependence; Digital development; Digital divide; European Union; Internet use; Panel data.