In the last three decades the internet has made a profound impact on the way we communicate, obtain information and procure certain services. This trend will continue and it is up to everyone to decide whether to speed ahead on the digital highway.

Small islands like Malta have a distinct advantage when it comes to hooking up homes to the internet. Substantial investment in the ICT infrastructure was made in the last several years to enable most households in Malta to be linked to the ’net. Yet it is astonishing that about a third of the Maltese have never gone online – at least according to 2011 Eurostat figures. What is more astonishing is that “Malta is the ninth most internet illiterate country in the EU27” even if substantial improvements were achieved in the last seven years.

While not much can be done to convince some elderly people to become computer literate and start using the internet, more can be done to ensure that the young and not so young generations make better use of this powerful tool of communication. Malta has made significant progress, for instance, in providing e-government services. Payment of bills to government entities and procurement of public registry certificates as well as access to the text of laws approved by Parliament can now be easily done by anyone who from the comfort of one’s home or office logs into the government website.

More important services can also be obtained if one subscribes to the mygov.mt electronic identity scheme. It is a shame that not so many people seem to have discovered the benefits of having an electronic ID to access these services. It must be said however that the process of subscribing is still not very user friendly and with a little less emphasis on bureaucracy and easier access to the service through personal applications received, for example, in local councils, more people can be enticed to subscribe.

In many ways most Maltese are already speeding up on the digital highway using the internet to obtain electronic banking services, buying their favourite CDs and books online and even booking their holidays on their computers at any time of the day that is convenient for them. In many ways, internet-literate Maltese are reaping the benefits of advances in communications and information technology as much as any other European person.

There are however certain aspects of the use of the internet that are a cause of concern especially among young people. Organisations like Sedqa have highlighted the increasing incidence of computer and internet addiction especially among young people who can spend several hours a day playing computer games or accessing undesirable websites. Young people should be spending more time socialising and actively participating in sports and other social activities to ensure a healthy balance in their lifestyles.

Educators in the higher education sector also report an increased incidence of plagiarism as students resort to “cut and paste” techniques on world wide web-sourced information to beef up their research output. Many also argue that with the widespread availability of the internet in the last two decades many young people have lost their love of reading books and prefer to consume the distilled knowledge that is readily available out in cyberspace.

Now is definitely the time to move to the fast lane of the digital highway if we want to excel in the skills needed for the new economy.