Advantages And Disadvantages Of Bridging The Digital Divide

According to Mary H, digital divide is not only the gap between people who have access to technology and those who do not, it is also the inequality in the kind of access. Though most Americans access the technology, the difference in the quality of access remains. Yet the Constitution guarantees the equality of opportunity, the digital divide subsists in the USA because there is economic disparity among people. Therefore, some social class does not earn the advantages of technology and the gap between upper class and lower class will grow up.

The term “digital divide” was coined to define this growing gap between the people who do not have access to modern technology (more specifically the poor, rural, elderly, and handicapped) and the people who do (wealthy, middle class, and those living in urban/suburban areas). In urban areas especially, a common assumption made is that everyone has access to this modern technology. People see technology all around them and assume it is integrated into everyone’s life. Because of the simplicity technology offers, it has become the engine behind economics, politics, and communication. In rural areas, most people know the potential of modern technology, but don’t have the resources to achieve it. “It has been observed that households earning incomes over $75,000 are 20 times more likely to have home internet access than those at lowest income levels and 10 times more likely to have a

Evolution of concept of digital divide - According to Curtis Kularski [1] (p. 5) “the digital divide is composed of a skill gap and a gap of physical access to Information Technology (IT) and the two gaps often contribute to each other in circular causation. Without access to technology, it is difficult to develop technical skill and it is redundant to have access to technology without first having the skill to utilise it”. Kularski’s quote sums up the reiterative nature of the problem. More than two decades ago, apparent inequalities in Internet access gave rise to “concern that the new technology might exacerbate inequality rather than ameliorate it”, which resulted

Whether it is a curse or a blessing, the internet has proved that it can be quite useful. People can communicate with each other from one side of the world to the other. It allows us to meet new people and see different places even if we have not seen them in our life before. Everyone can easily have access to the internet as it is available all over the world.

Since the launch of the Internet as a global communication network and the boom in communication technologies, our world has been overwhelmed by a new phenomenon – digital divide. It has gradually turned into a major, constantly growing world issue, threatening to further increase the gap between advanced and developing countries. Yet, is digital divide really an unprecedented occurrence or a natural and unavoidable trend? “Divide” is certainly a word whose meaning could be traced back to the mere dawn of human history. It goes even deeper – to human nature itself: to sex and racial differentiation, to unequal physical and mental powers, to different

In the late 20th century, technology began advancing so quickly that entire world economies underwent extraordinary transformations in very little time. It used to be only a handful of powerful people and corporations interacting in global trade and commerce, but technology has made it so “countries like India are now able to compete for global knowledge,” giving leaders and companies the ability to work with more nations than ever before (Friedman 7). The internet has given men and women the power to connect, communicate and provide information to people across the planet in an instant. It has given people the opportunity to seek knowledge, educate themselves and single-handily play a role in the world economy. This is called

The definition of the digital divide “The problem that exists because some groups of people have the opportunity and knowledge to use computer technology and some do not” The digital divide used to be about the gap between people who have technology and people who do not, but now it's about people who know how to use technology and those who do not. As can be seen from the first chart(at the top) there is huge difference between the number of people who own a smartphone which creates a divide between those in North America and those in Africa and seen in the second chart there is also a divide between those who use the internet and those who do not, there are different reasons why people aren’t using the internet, some say that they don’t want

It would speed up the process of learning because people are online globally 24 hours a day.

Since its introduction on a public scale in the 1990s, the internet has been associated with many changes in social experience. Many aspects of social life such as education, work, commerce and even personal relationships have changed through the internet. However, researchers have found that, at least in the early years, access to the internet is shaped according to gender, class, ethnicity and education. During the 1990s the typical information technology user was a white, male, professional with a background in IT. This bias in internet access was named the ‘digital divide’ to point out the implied social inequalities. It was said that the internet was

The Internet makes the world smaller. The ability to communicate and exchange information instantaneously and across enormous distances has enabled more individuals and businesses to participate in the economy, regardless of their location. Corporations can connect with suppliers, employees, and customers around the globe, and smaller businesses can find their customers anywhere in the world. Businesses can hire knowledge workers almost regardless of where they are, greatly expanding employment opportunities for people in the United States, and giving developing nations the ability to become economic powerhouses by providing information technology services to the rest of the world (Gates). The Internet, along with other computer technologies, is literally enabling some developing countries to "leapfrog" the industrial revolution and jump straight to the Internet Age (Malaspina 77).

Unlike developed countries, countries that are undeveloped have a huge digital divide. Globally, the digital divide is increasing because many citizens living on undeveloped countries has less than 1 percent of computer and internet access. In Africa, less than ten percent of the population have used a computer. Majority of nations in Africa’s yearly internet access cost more than the yearly income (“Digital Divide” 1-2).

In a world where technology is being constantly innovated, there are some people who are bound to fall behind. Particularly because information and communication technologies have brought significant changes to improve countries across the globe politically, economically and socially and over the past few decades, there has been r in people’s reliance and use of the Internet. The gap between those who do and those who do not have access to the Internet is known as the digital divide. This is a major issue internationally because information and communication technology can empower and benefit society socially and economically to share facts and express their values, virtues and other opinions. Some countries that are greatly impacted by the

This article is used to reveal the differences between the 19th century and the 21st century digital divide and to help understand both groups of people. The article organizes these gaps into two categories, the 19th century as digital immigrants, meaning that this group of people use technology very little or not at all and the 21st century, meaning this group of people are tech-savvy and technology is second nature to them. Some of the differences according to the article are that digital immigrants prefer to talk on the phone rather than to text, they use manuals with clear steps, they are more inclined to read a book from front to back, and they rely on a 5-day work week with the weekend off work, whereas digital natives prefer to text over talk on the phone, they use trial and error methods rather than use a manual with clear precise directions, they prefer to read short paragraphs, work sporadically 7 days a week, and they use the internet to socialize.

Technological advancements around the world have developed a unique platform for exclusive application technology as a critical tool useful in the definition of social as well as economic advancements. The extent to which different people can access the technological advancements is significant to the definition of how challenging it is for people to access the same technological advancements, hence the creation of a digital divide. The digital divide can be defined as the state of social inequality defined in relation to the access, use, as well as impacts linked to the use of digital communication as well as technological platforms. The move to overcome the digital divide would not only be informed by the promotion of overall success in

The digital divide marks the gap between those who have access and utilize Information communication technologies and those who lack access or ability (reference). Causes for this division have traditionally stemmed through economic circumstance. Due to the existing disproportions between countries economic situations, a large global dimension exists within the digital divide. Socio-demographic factors also significantly affect ones positioning on the spectrum of the digital divide. Through examination it becomes clear that the gap in some senses is showing signs of narrowing. On