Digital exclusion — a danger to the education today

Contemporary media and new technologies became an integral part of our lives. We can experience their influence in nearly every part of our everyday life. In the hands of an adept and sensible user, they can become a powerful educational tool. Their misuse however, often leads to a number of problems and negative effects. The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic forced us to transfer social, political, economic and cultural aspects of our lives into the digital realm. The following article takes up the issue of digital exclusion, a pressing international problem, as well as the challenges that the polish educational system faced during distance-learning. Studies mentioned in the article illustrate the difficulties which the students, their parents, teachers and headmasters encountered at every level. The conclusions point at the direction the post-pandemic school ought to take while transitioning back to classrooms.

Keywords: pandemic, distance-learning, digital exclusion, media education

Contemporary media and new technologies became an integral part of our lives. We can experience their influence in nearly every part of our everyday life. In the hands of an adept and sensible user, they can become a powerful educational tool. Their misuse however, often leads to a number of problems and negative effects. The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic forced us to transfer social, political, economic and cultural aspects of our lives into the digital realm. The following article takes up the issue of digital exclusion, a pressing international problem, as well as the challenges that the polish educational system faced during distance-learning. Studies mentioned in the article illustrate the difficulties which the students, their parents, teachers and headmasters encountered at every level. The conclusions point at the direction the post-pandemic school ought to take while transitioning back to classrooms.