Paul
Goble
Staunton, April 7 – As Russians are
told to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, ever more of the
82 percent who are connected to the Internet are turning to that channel for
news, with the share doing so rising from 83 percent to 89 percent over the
last month alone, VTsIOM reports.
They have also increased their use
of the Internet for bank transfers (up from 72 to 78 percent over the same
period), education and instruction (from 63 percent to 69 percent), maintaining
ties with relatives (from 79 to 89 percent), and for entertainment (now, 77
percent, up six percent from two years ago) (wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=10221).
In short, for Russians as for many
others who are now staying at home because of the pandemic, the Internet has
become a lifesaver. But in Russia, this may be even more important because of
the very different and more independent messages the Internet conveys than do
state-controlled television.
But this expanded use of the
Internet by most Russians also calls attention to the fifth of the Russian population
which even now lacks access or the larger number which lacks high speed
connections (profile.ru/scitech/kakaya-chast-rossiyan-v-period-karantina-ostalas-bez-podklyucheniya-k-internetu-275314/).
The
figure of 80 percent of Russians going online is deceptive because except in
the largest cities, speeds available to Russian Internet users are so slow that
people cannot use them for many purposes and don’t. In Moscow, things may be fine, but even in
mid-sized cities, where the Internet is widespread, the speeds are much, much
slower.
This
puts much of Russia under “a double quarantine,” the Profile survey says. They
not only must stay home, but they can’t use the Internet for all the wonderful
things that it can offer in the way of news, entertainment and even commercial
activity. Indeed, slow speeds may be
more of a constraint in Russia now than total access rates.
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