User:Alhen/sandbox

Internet in Bolivia was first developed in 1992 by BOLnet, as a part of the UMSA project to connect first the university, and then the rest of the public universities in Bolivia. In 1996 the first Internet Café was opened at Casa de la Cultura in La Paz. Dial-up connections were made available by the mid 90s, and ADSL connections started to be installed by 2009. Also, cellphones could connect to Internet by data plans, and optic fiber started to be deployed by 2021, 241 cities and towns have access to Internet by optic fiber.

Covid 19 impact on Internet use in Bolivia
During this last year of COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of citizens have seen their lives change. These changes have affected their health, their economy and their Internet habits. About this last topic, we are in front of an accelerated process of digitalization that involve all of the services we use.

Because of the restrictions imposed by the government, people changed the way they sale their products. They turned to Facebook to offer and exchange a variety of products and services. These digital platforms that in the past generated distrust were the only option to purchase basic products as food (supermarkets), drugs (drugstore) and to make bank operations. People that in the past didn´t want to try this alternative, mainly baby boomers, started to use the sale platforms discovering a lot of benefits. Statistics indicate that 3 out of 4 households have shopped online during this period. And 70% say they will continue to shop this way from now on[1].

The consumption of streaming content and the use of social networks also increased. The industry of entertainment has a main role in the pandemic, series, movies and video calls were essential during 2020. An interesting phenomenon were the live broadcasts through, not only famous people, communicated with the others. In fact, the use of social networks during the pandemic increased by 27%[2].

At the same time, many companies were forced to go online in record time. As a consequence, many people had to start working from home. This created the need to implement a specific measures to deal to the challenges of working online. Bolivia´s low Internet penetration and low Internet literacy created additional challenges

These changes improved lives in many ways but, in the other hand, has brought problems related to the misuse of the Internet. For instance, new forms of harassment and bullying, anxiety, depression and feelings of loneliness.

[1] Extracted from: El Deber Newspaper https://www.bolivia.com/tecnologia/noticias/internet-y-pandemia-cambio-habitos-consumo-ano-despues-308590

[2] idem to the previous