Cost-of-living pressures are creating a digital literacy gap that leave older people and those with English as a second language especially vulnerable to disadvantage, ABC News reports.
A report found the gap also made it difficult to access government support services, a situation Lat Aung Nanghee knows all too well.
When he arrived in Australia as an immigrant from Myanmar in 2013, he had hoped for a fresh start.
"It was a big change, you know? I had less opportunity in my country because of the political situation," he said.
"There were not a lot of Burmese people at the time, so that was a struggle."
When he arrived on Australian soil, Mr Nanghee not only struggled to make personal connections, but found it difficult to navigate online government services like Centrelink and Service NSW.
In Myanmar, Mr Nanghee had worked in IT and had some English skills, which he said was an advantage, but the "struggle is there".
Prompted by his own experience, Mr Nanghee decided to facilitate digital literacy classes in Burmese at a local library in Wagga Wagga, his adopted home.
"They didn't have the privilege to study back in our country and here everything is going online, even paying your bill or car registration," he said.
July's Cost of Living Report from the New South Wales Council of Social Services (NCOSS) found more than 880,000 people were living below the poverty line.
The report detailed the steps low-income families had been forced to take to survive, including skipping meals and not buying medication.
Many respondents also reported going without mobile data and internet at home, despite citing it as a priority expense
FULL STORY
Burmese migrant steps in as digital literacy gap leaves people exposed to disadvantage (ABC News)
PHOTO
Lat Aung Nanghee teaches digital literacy classes at the Wagga Wagga library.(ABC Riverina: Danielle Pope)
