Essay on The Digital Divide

As of December 31, 2013, about 2 billion people on the Earth use the internet. That’s about 40% of the world’s population, since the total population is about 7 billion. Technology plays a major role in guiding people’s perceptions and misconceptions. In modern times, technology is a major part of our society, and how we live everyday. However, in other parts of the world technology is not a large influence on their culture. For example, the Matsigenka tribe in the Peruvian Amazon lacks advanced technology. This leads the tribe members to view the outside world differently than Americans do. The attention and popularity of technology are blinding people from the world, as demonstrated by the Matsigenka tribe, since they are not consumed and

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 past decade, the number of internet users in the United States and worldwide has grown dramatically with an estimated 218 million US citizens having

There is also a large percentage of households making an annual income of over fifty thousand. In comparison to the nation’s income levels per household, Dakota County has a smaller percentage of households that make under fifty thousand and an incredibly low number of households that make under fifteen thousand. Due to the abundance of economic capital in the County, there may not be as big of a digital access issue in the county. However, there is still roughly 7% of the county which lives under the poverty line which means that readily available access to technology and the internet in homes may be limited to a small portion of the population which in turn creates an access issue for some residents in the county. The lack of material resources and technology access is a major player in the digital divide

This topic I became very interested in after learning more about it with the homework and reading we did. I learned that the Network Society is a social group created through the medium of "online" or other relations that are not made face to face. Network Society can have vast impacts on the economy and political and cultural influences. Unlike in person communication to where you are limited by space and chance of seeing the right person, there are no special limitations on the network. The digital divide, although shrinking in many areas, is still an important issue that separates the world. With the increased reliance on the internet, people without access to it fall behind socially and possibly economically. The digital divide is eased with public digital infrastructure such as free computer usage at Libraries but it can still put certain populations at a severe disadvantage than those with internet access. With digital text books, online quizzes and online grades via canvas, it would be quite impossible to attend this college without adequate access to technology, which some still do not have. Technology has developed into a near necessity for many people in America and especially for every student enrolled in the University of Washington Tacoma. Another part of this Network Society is the governments integration into the society and their attempt to stay more relevant with the times

Income inequality is the unspoken truth of American life. Millions of Americans live in poverty while the minority holds the majority of the wealth. This problem has become more severe in recent years, with the wealth gap increasing exponentially. While innovation drives economics in the free market, recent innovations have caused the wealth gap to become skewed. Broadband Internet is one particular innovation that has spurred economic growth but has hurt the lower class. Broadband Internet can be defined as “768 Kbps download and 200 Kbps upload” (Dunbar). Although there are many varying classification of broadband Internet, this definition will be utilized for the purposes of this paper. The non-adoption of broadband Internet by those living

But what has leads to this big unbalance? Our team think that it’s the work of the digital divide, which is a phenomenon that occurs from the mid-20th century. The birth of the internet has allowed other technology to escalate at an impressive rate. As such, the more internet usage a country has, the more developed it is. For example, Africa has internet usage rate of 0% except for certain small area, while rich regions like America and Australia

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

As Freedom House notes in it’s discourse on “Obstacles to Access” when examining the status of American Internet, “access, cost, and usability remain barriers… particular [for] senior citizens, people… in rural areas, and low-income households” (Freedom House). Therefore, not only is cost a barrier to even having Internet access, and thus the “empowerment” that entails, but both the Internet speed and availability, both hallmark disadvantageous of living far away from central cities, severely damper this ability to empower. In fact, I would say this dampens all three facets of Internet empowerment. However, as Freedom House concurrently notes 80% of American households subscribe to a broadband connection. Thus, I would not say that the Internet is only empowering an elite group just based on resources, but it is definitely exclusionary to people with lesser monetary and location-ary means.

Over the years the media has made citizens major role players in politics. Ross Perot opened eyes by putting the 1992 Election in the media and thereby allowing voters to become directly involved in politics. The Internet, the new form of mass media “has turned into a major political and media industry” (Grossman 16). Because of the rise the Internet has taken, the idea of direct democracy has risen. The foundation of direct democracy is in self-government. The claim is that the presence of the Internet will increase citizens’ involvement in political issues by allowing them access to more information. This is significant because it takes a look at the impact of technology on society and politics, as well by

Imagine a world where geographic separation does not inhibit the social or economic mobility of people. A place where cement roads are obsolete and unnecessary and the information super highway is the only road you need to know how to navigate. Information technology becomes the glue and nails that binds our (global) society together. Development becomes a matter of installing fiber-optic wiring, cellular towers and satellite launching. World Bank projects change from road building to wire laying. Now imagine a world where there is no electricity, telephones, computers, roads or other mediums of transportation other than legs and feet. Communication exists on a face-to-face level and nothing more. An individuals’

The Internet is a technology that has negative impacts on our daily lives. It has changed aspects of our life for the last 50 years, and it has demonstrated the considerable influence on people’s lives. Almost 3.2 billion people in the world use the internet. The Internet has gained acceptance across the globe, and it has also become a reason behind the critical changes in the modern society. Some of the changes are social isolation, health disorder, lack of privacy and internet addiction.

As stated by ONS (office for national statistics) in 2014, 38 million adults (76%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 21 million more than in 2006 as well as 22 million households (84%) having Internet access in 2014, up from 57% in 2006. The dramatic increase in internet usage and access can indicate the widespread of such a fashionable tool; however it is known that as well as being an effective

The digital age has brought about many changes in the way we conduct business, education, entertainment and mental health. The trend to incorporate technology into our mental health programs, while in its infancy, continues to grow in popularity and use by both educational and private mental health providers. There has been a great deal of discussion on the methods, ethics, problems and benefits of this new technology, however little research has been done on the effectiveness of this method of counseling on clients.

Americans have become very dependent on the use of the Internet and this dependence has begun to negatively affect current generations