Individuals in the Digital Economy: Patterns of Adaptation and Participation

Digital technologies have become an integral part of modern economic and social life, changing the way people work, communicate, consume goods and services, manage their finances and access information.However, the opportunities created by digital transformation are not distributed equally across the population.Individuals enter the digital economy with different levels of income, education, digital skills and financial resources, which affects both their ability and their willingness to adopt new technologies.As a result, digitalisation does not lead to a uniform pattern of behaviour: while some people actively use digital technologies to expand their economic opportunities, others use them only for basic everyday activities or remain largely outside the digital environment [1].Therefore, understanding contemporary digital inequality requires considering not only whether people have access to technologies, but also how they use them, what economic opportunities they derive from them, and how digital participation interacts with their financial position.So several types of people can be distinguished in the digital age based on how they access, use, and benefit from digital technologies. DIGITALLY EXCLUDEDPeople who have no access, or only very limited access, to the Internet, digital devices and online services.For such individuals, participation in the digital economy is restricted at the most basic level, limiting opportunities to use online education, digital financial services, e-commerce, remote employment and other digital tools.Despite the rapid expansion of digital technologies, this problem remains significant: in 2025, around 2.2 billion people worldwide remained offline, with the majority living in low-and middle-income countries [2].One of the major factors associated with digital exclusion is financial inequality.The ability to participate in the digital environment depends not only on the availability of Internet infrastructure, but also on whether individuals can afford appropriate devices and connectivity.Differences in Internet use remain pronounced across income