Smart Society or Unequal Society? Internet Access, Education, and Inclusive Development in the Era of Society 5.0 of Asean Countries
Keywords:
Society 5.0, Digital Divide, Internet Access, Digital Education and Literacy, Inclusive DevelopmentAbstract
Development technology information and communication be the core of digital transformation, which marks society 5.0, namely people who use technology for increase welfare humans. However, the development this can expand inequality social because no always happen in a way evenly. Research objectives this is for inspect connection between internet access, costs education and development inclusive, and whether digital transformation in ASEAN countries tends to produce public inclusive smart or precisely produce society that does not increasingly fair split. Based on secondary data from our world in data, International Telecommunication Union, World Bank, and UNESCO, analysis content qualitative used in study this. This data covers level internet use and shopping government for education as percentage of GDP in ASEAN countries in term long. Analysis done in a way comparative and contextual for find patterns, inequalities, and implications social from digital transformation. Research results show that although internet penetration is increasing in a way significant across ASEAN, increasing this to always accompanied by investment sufficient education. Countries that have extensive internet access and systems strong education show trend going to public smart, while countries that have source power limited education risky experience inequality technology new. The result show that access technology without increase ability man no in a way automatic produce inclusive development. Research This aim for make framework analysis integrative that connects digitalization, inclusion social and education in the context of society 5.0 in ASEAN. Not much indicators and aggregate data national that can used in study this. Therefore, research addition must done with micro data or approach mixture for get greater understanding good about dynamics digital and social inequality in the field this.
References
Farrell, S., Walker, I., & Paris, C. (2019). Analyzing social media data: A mixed-methods framework combining computational and qualitative text analysis. Behavior Research Methods, 51(4), 1766–1781. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01202-8
Bank, A. D. (2022). Bridging the digital divide in Southeast Asia.
Basyo, I., & Anirwan, A. (2023). Pelayanan Publik Era Digital: Studi Literatur. Indonesian Journal of Intellectual Publication, 4(1), 23–31. https://doi.org/10.51577/ijipublication.v4i1.477
Castells, M. (2010). The Rise of the Network Society.
Chong, M. T., Puah, C. H., Mansor, S. A., & Teh, C. S. (2023). Digital Connectivity Bridging Digital ASEAN. International Journal of Economics and Management, 17(1), 139–149. https://doi.org/10.47836/ijeam.17.1.10
Foundation, A. (2023). Digital literacy in ASEAN: One divide or many divides?
Fukuyama, M. (2018). Society 5.0: Aiming for a new human-centered society. Japan Spotlight.
Ghobakhloo, M., & Fathi, M. (2023). Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0: Toward a sustainable, human-centric, and resilient future. Technological Forecasting and Social Change.
Hargittai, E. (2002). Second-level digital divide: Differences in people’s online skills. First Monday.
Hilbert, M. (2011). The end justifies the definition. Telecommunications Policy.
James, J. (2020). Digital divide across all citizens of the world. Social Indicators Research.
Kusumastuti, A., & Nuryani, A. (2020). Digital Literacy Levels in ASEAN (Comparative Study on ASEAN Countries). https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.23-10-2019.2293047
Lopez-Sintas, J., Lamberti, G., & Sukphan, J. (2020). The social structuring of the digital gap in a developing country. The impact of computer and internet access opportunities on internet use in Thailand. Technology in Society, 63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101433
Maulana, A., & Suryana, Y. (2025). Perkembangan Integrasi Digital Untuk Mendorong Digitalisasi Ekonomi di Kawasan Asean. Global Mind, 5(2), 37–50. https://doi.org/10.53675/jgm.v5i2.1170
McFarlane, D., Mieruch, Y., & Si, N. L. W. (2024). Closing the digital divide in education: an innovative review of demand and supply side policies in four ASEAN member states. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 13(6), 3827–3837. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v13i6.28011
Mills, K. A. (2019). Big data for qualitative research. Big Data for Qualitative Research, 1–78. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429056413
Narvaez Rojas, C., Alomia Peñafiel, G. A., Loaiza Buitrago, D. F., & Tavera Romero, C. A. (2021). Society 5.0: A Japanese concept for a superintelligent society. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126567
Nurdiana, E. D., Hariyani, H. F., & Boedirochminarni, A. (2023). The impact of digitalization and economic openness on economic growth in ASEAN countries. Jurnal Ekonomi & Studi Pembangunan, 24(2), 331–345. https://doi.org/10.18196/jesp.v24i2.18335
OECD. (2021). Bridging the digital divide: Policy insights.
Park, Y. J. (2021). Digital inequality, education, and inclusive growth. Information Development.
Selwyn, N. (2016). Education and Technology: Key Issues and Debates.
Shin, D. H. (2022). Society 5.0 and the future of human-centered digital transformation. Telecommunications Policy.
Tran, L. Q. T., Phan, D. T., & Nguyen, M. T. (2022). Digital Economy: A Comparative Study in ASEAN. Theory, Methodology, Practice, 18(2), 83–92. https://doi.org/10.18096/tmp.2022.02.05
UNESCO. (2021). Reimagining Our Futures Together.
van Dijk, J. (2020). The Digital Divide.
Vignato, J., Inman, M., Patsais, M., & Conley, V. (2022). Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software, Phenomenology, and Colaizzi’s Method. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 44(12), 1117–1123. https://doi.org/10.1177/01939459211030335
Wiraguna, S., Purwanto, L. M. F., & Rianto Widjaja, R. (2024). Metode Penelitian Kualitatif di Era Transformasi Digital Qualitative Research Methods in the Era of Digital Transformation. Arsitekta : Jurnal Arsitektur Dan Kota Berkelanjutan, 6(01), 46–60. https://doi.org/10.47970/arsitekta.v6i01.524
Yates, S. J., & Carmi, E. (2020). What do digital inclusion and data literacy mean today? Internet Policy Review, 9(2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.2.1474
Zheng, Y., & Walsham, G. (2021). Inequality of what? Social exclusion in the e-society as capability deprivation. Information Technology for Development.
Zou, Y., Kuek, F., Feng, W., & Cheng, X. (2025). Digital learning in the 21st century: trends, challenges, and innovations in technology integration. Frontiers in Education, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1562391
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Raira Chandara Wanda (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms.
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

