Problems Associated With the Use of ICTs by the Rural People: A Study in Assam

Abstract: The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming very important for the people to cope up with the digital advancements. The present study was conducted on 120 members of Jorhat and Golaghat District of Assam with the objective of finding out the availability and accessibility to different ICTs tools and the problems faced by the respondents associated with use of ICTs by the rural people. The information was gathered from the respondents using a structured interview schedule through personal interview method. The research design adopted for the present study is exploratory and descriptive. From the study it was found that the majority of the rural people possessed Television. It was found that more than half (56.70%) respondents were belonged to medium level of digital media possession. The respondents had very less participation in training related to ICT and among the various problems faced by the respondents in utilization of digital devices. “Fear of committing any mistake”, “High cost of internet packs” and “Poor network connectivity” topped the list with mean score 5.00, 4.98 and 4.66 respectively. The paper recommends for providing formal and informal trainings related using of ICTs in different activities.