Digitalization and Its Impact on the Development of Society

Abstract

The research is devoted to the analysis of the essence of the concept of digitalisation and its impact on the development of the economy and society. The structure of the research consists of three stages: analysis of approaches to the interpretation of the concept of “digital economy” and the main characteristics of this concept, analysis of approaches and assessments of the impact of digitalisation and information and communication technologies (ICT) on the economic development of countries, identification of advantages and threats that digitalisation presents to society. According to the structure of the study, the essence and key characteristics of the digital economy concept have been specified; the main indices used to assess digitalization and the impact of ICT on the economic development of countries have been considered; the assessment of digitalisation of countries based on the indices has been carried out. It has been revealed that, despite the variety of methods for calculating indices of digitisation and ICT development, the leading countries have already been determined, and they have not significantly changed their positions, so the international economy continues to move towards the digital future at different rates, which, in turn, determine transformational shifts in economies of countries. The generalization of modern studies has made it possible to detect the advantages and threats (of economic, social, technological, political, and control nature) that digitalization presents. It has been proven that its influence on the development of society is contradictory. Therefore, in order to obtain benefits from the spread of digitalisation, a careful and balanced approach to the introduction of digital technologies in all spheres is necessary, taking into account the specifics of the processes taking place and the specifics of the development of countries, as well as the responsible interaction of states in controlling the spread of digital technologies.