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    Which countries have the most tech-literate populace? And how can we make our countries more tech-literate?
    Futurology

    Which countries have the most tech-literate populace? And how can we make our countries more tech-literate?


    This question is inspired by this news story: France plans social media ban for under-15s from September 2026

    This question also follows on from an earlier ChangeMyView post I made: CMV: I have lost faith in Australia's upcoming social media ban for kids..

    Some might argue that it's necessary to have a social media ban for kids in Australia (and soon, France too). But even if it really is, doesn't that just imply that it's necessary because of widespread tech-illiteracy in Australia and France?

    Before you say that I am shilling for social media here, as I mentioned in my ChangeMyView post, social media companies themselves do dodgy things. And there are some countries where a tech-illiterate society (including tech-illiterate adults) gets played like a fiddle by social media, such as:

    Most of the world's other countries don't seem to need to rely on desperate measures like a social media ban to avoid these problems. If certain countries have problems with social media due to widespread tech-illiteracy, which ones would be the most tech-literate then?

    Which countries have the most tech-literate populace? And how can we make our countries more tech-literate?
    byu/Polyphagous_person inFuturology

    View 7 Comments

    7 Comments

    1. brainwaveblaster on

      These bans aren’t really about tech literacy; they’re driven by concerns about potential developmental harms from heavy social-media exposure in children. That said, the scientific evidence for broad, causal harms is mixed and not as conclusive as the public debate often implies, at least so far. In that sense, it’s primarily a social and public-health issue, not a technological one.

    2. analytic-hunter on

      I don’t think it has much to do with tech.

      Many of the mechanisms that can make social media dangerous for people, especially children, have been leveraged by the marketing industry, by the gambling industry and by scammers for decades, before internet even existed.

      The main difference is that social medias are huge amplificators of these issues, and difficult to regulate with granularity without the assistance of the social media companies.

      I think it is very naive to believe that it has to do with “tech illiteracy” or some “lower capabilities” of the populations of some countries.

      It is just about how various countries have different opinions on what to regulate.

      I’d say that it’s quite similar to gambling regulation. Countries or states that ban it (or limit it for minors) do not make the choice because their population is uneducated on gambling, but because they make a political decision based on their values.

    3. Sir-Viette on

      One way to measure tech literacy is to look at how complex are the products made in that country, based on how many subcomponents it has. For instance, a phone is a complex product because it has all kinds of sub-components that need different specialised skills to make. There’s a battery, and some memory, and a display, etc. On the other hand, iron ore is not a complex product. You just dig it out of the ground.

      The more complex a country’s products are, the more education the people in that country need to participate in the main industries of the economy. So if we find a measure of economic complexity, we’ll also find a measure of education & tech literacy.

      [OEC.World](http://OEC.World) ranks countries by the complexity of the products it exports. It calls this ECI Trade. (It also ranks countries by ECI Technology based on patents, and ECI Research based on scientific papers, but ECI Trade would better reflect the tech savvy of the broader economy). [The top 5 countries in the world at ECI Trade](https://oec.world/en/rankings/eci/hs6/hs96?tab=table) are:

      1. Japan.
      2. Chinese Taipei.
      3. Switzerland.
      4. South Korea.
      5. Germany

      So I’d say those are the most tech literate countries in the world.

    4. Caculon on

      It’s not just literacy. These are developing brains and they have less impulse control among other differences with adult brains. I’m not arguing for or against here I’m just saying, I think literacy while very important isn’t the concern motivating these kids of bans. 

    6. TheLGMac on

      The fact that countries banned anything has nothing to do with their population being more or less tech literate than everyone else, but more to do with the culture of the country and nature of their governments.

      You have to understand that in Australia harsh bans and strict regulations are how the government, well, governs, everything from banning most firearms after a shooting in the 90s (and again now after Bondi) to strict fire bans during heatwaves. Sometimes it’s done for good reason and other times it’s done due to Murdoch media influence and lobbying, but has absolutely nothing to do with the population’s literacy about any of those subject areas.

    7. costafilh0 on

      **France plans the end of anonymity on social media so people can’t criticize the government anonymously** *

      Here, fixed it for them.Â