Bridging the Digital Divide: Journalist Sourav Roy’s Journey to Enhance Technology Awareness

Kolkata: The swift progression of technology keeps on bringing forth new features and functionalities. Even so, the general public’s understanding of these technologies is not keeping up with their rapid advancement. In contrast to urban areas, where some people deliberately educate themselves on how to use digital devices, rural communities face different challenges. Due to linguistic differences, the digital divide still exists in West Bengal’s villages, making it difficult for the local populace to take use of technology’s advantages. This is mostly because most internet content is available in Hindi or English.

Despite their willingness to use technology, many people in these remote regions find it difficult because of language hurdles. Their use of cellphones is frequently restricted to the most fundamental features, such the touch screen for making calls. Even though the other person just says “Hello” in return, their entire experience is hampered by poor technological competence. Seeing this problem, Sourav Roy launched his “Real Tech Know” (Bengali) YouTube channel to help close the language divide and raise understanding of technology.

Sourav Roy was born on May 2, 1994, in Dinhata Town, Cooch Behar District. He has been a professional journalist since 2013. He moved to Siliguri in 2015 to pursue a career in journalism, and he is currently employed with Digital News Media and the Uttarbanga Sambad newspaper. Even with his demanding journalism duties, Sourav finds time to produce videos on social media that try to raise people’s awareness of technology. In addition to working as a freelancer in digital marketing, SEO, and website design, he has recently cooperated with PR agencies. His major area of interest is still field journalism, though.

In terms of his academic career, Sourav Roy attended Dinhata Soni Devi Jain High School and Gopal Nagar M.S.S. High School for his secondary and higher secondary studies, respectively. He graduated from Netaji Subhash Open University in 2020 with honors in history and then completed a post-graduation program there as well.

Sourav responds to the nation’s digital revolution by pointing out its advantages, such the creation of UPI and digital currency. He does, however, also highlight the possible dangers, relating stories of online money losses and the frequency of hacker activity. In response to these issues, Sourav keeps a busy Facebook page (https://facebook.com/thesouravroy) and a secondary blog (https://thesouravroy.com).

Since 2017, Sourav has managed to combine his love of technology advocacy with his professional responsibilities. Despite the difficulties, he painstakingly follows the steps involved in making a video, from planning to filming to editing, all with the intention of educating people about technology and disseminating useful information rather than focusing only on gaining more subscribers.

Go to Sourav Roy’s blog at https://thesouravroy.com for more updates.

Use this Facebook link to get in touch with him: https://facebook.com/thesouravroy