The benefit claim form is online only. The pensioner does not have internet. This is described as a technical limitation.
Literal meaning: Digital exclusion describes the state of being unable to access or meaningfully use digital services and infrastructure — whether due to lack of physical access, insufficient skills, unaffordable costs, or design choices that make systems unusable for specific populations. The term distinguishes active exclusion from passive absence.
Origin: The term developed as researchers and policymakers recognised that the Digital Divide framing — emphasising the gap between connected and unconnected — obscured the active mechanisms of exclusion. UK research by the Good Things Foundation and the Carnegie UK Trust documented specific populations experiencing digital exclusion: older adults, disabled people, people with low literacy, people in poverty, and people with unstable housing. The shift from “divide” to “exclusion” is politically significant: it names an agent, not just a gap.
Active removal from digital participation — through design choices, cost structures, and policy decisions that treat exclusion as a technical limitation.
The Appeal: The exclusion framing is more actionable than the divide framing: if people are being excluded, there are agents making choices that produce that exclusion, and those choices can be changed. The shift in language has driven more targeted policy interventions.
The Friction: Digital exclusion is not neutral in its distribution. Ageism (Digital) — age discrimination in interface design — is one driver. Algorithmic Violence — harm caused by automated systems — describes what happens when excluded people are affected by systems they cannot access or contest: benefits systems, immigration processing, healthcare — all increasingly digital, all producing harm when access is unavailable. Accessibility compliance does not prevent digital exclusion: a compliant site may still be unusable for someone with low literacy, limited bandwidth, or an outdated device. Tech Abandonment is one response: giving up rather than continuing to navigate systems not designed for you.
Why This Matters: Digital exclusion names the specific harm of being outside a system that increasingly governs access to services, benefits, healthcare, and civic participation. Once you see it as active exclusion rather than passive absence, the design choices that produce it become legible as decisions with consequences.
Related terms: Digital Divide · Ageism (Digital) · Algorithmic Violence · Accessibility · Tech Abandonment · Inclusive Design · Predatory Design · Universal Design
Read more:
- The Self-Reinforcing Effect of Digital and Social Exclusion: The Inequality Loop — Ragnedda, M., Ruiu, M. L., & Addeo, F. (2022). Telematics and Informatics, 72, 101852
- Tackling Digital Exclusion Counter: Social Inequalities Through Digital Inclusion Massimo Ragnedda (2018) in G. Muschert et al (eds) Global Agenda for Social Justice, *Polity Press, pp 151-157.
- Identifying and Understanding Digital Exclusion: A Mixed-Methods Study — Wilson-Menzfeld, G., et al. (2025). Behaviour & Information Technology.
- Identifying and Understanding Digital Exclusion: A Mixed-Methods Study — Wilson-Menzfeld, G., et al. (2025). Behaviour & Information Technology.