Digital Divide: Focus On The United States
Digital Divide: Focus on the United States
Student Name
INF 103 Computer Literacy
Ernesto Messavussu
March 18, 2013
Digital Divide: Focus on the Unites States The digital divide is the fact that some people have easy access to computers and all the benefits that they provide, while many other people are cut off from them because of poverty or living in underdeveloped countries or rural areas without Internet access (Bowles, 2010). This paper will focus on the availability of access to the Internet instead of access to a computer with the intent of using the Internet. There are different forms of digital divide and different types of people affected by it. Viable solutions have been put into place. …show more content…
Age and education are the two most prevalent forms (Compaine, 2001). In relation to age and education, the divide is best seen between today’s typical teenager and the grandparents of that teen. The gap can result from a lack of education in how to use the available technologies and/or from the amount of technical expertise a person has. This gap is small though. According to a study conducted in 2009, 33% of adults between the ages of 18-24 spend between 8-15 hours/week online vs. 21% of adults ages 65+ (Wauters, 2009). In 2000, a study revealed that one in five American adults does not use the Internet. Among those adults, almost half of elderly people who purposefully do not access the internet say that they don’t feel the Internet is necessary or relevant to them. Most of them have never used the internet and neither has anyone in their home. This clearly shows a lack of education and familiarity. In fact, about one in five of them attribute a lack of knowledge about technology to their reason for not using the Internet (Digital Differences, …show more content…
Most recently, this divide was witnessed during the 2013 tax season. Those people who have access to the Internet were able to e-file free of charge and receive a return via direct deposit. This process is considerably quicker than mailing in a return and waiting for a paper check to come in the mail. In the same category, those taxpayers who are comfortable enough filing their own taxes can do so with the help of Internet based tax programs. The IRS even has a portion of their website dedicated to Frequently Asked (tax) Questions (FAQ’s) that can be accessed at any time of the day or night. Our local governments are also using the Internet to keep their constituents informed and a surprisingly large number of people are showing interest. Approximately 40% of adult Internet users have gone online for data regarding government spending and activities (Government Online, 2010). Conversely, those local government agencies with lower median incomes and higher poverty percentages are less likely to have a web presence. This indicates that efforts to reduce the digital divide in terms of citizen access to the Internet may not guarantee equal access to government services (Is There, 2012). All the different forms of digital divide affect people in different ways. Not all of the consequences are from a lack of Internet availability, however. For instance, those people who are consider
Student Name
INF 103 Computer Literacy
Ernesto Messavussu
March 18, 2013
Digital Divide: Focus on the Unites States The digital divide is the fact that some people have easy access to computers and all the benefits that they provide, while many other people are cut off from them because of poverty or living in underdeveloped countries or rural areas without Internet access (Bowles, 2010). This paper will focus on the availability of access to the Internet instead of access to a computer with the intent of using the Internet. There are different forms of digital divide and different types of people affected by it. Viable solutions have been put into place. …show more content…
Age and education are the two most prevalent forms (Compaine, 2001). In relation to age and education, the divide is best seen between today’s typical teenager and the grandparents of that teen. The gap can result from a lack of education in how to use the available technologies and/or from the amount of technical expertise a person has. This gap is small though. According to a study conducted in 2009, 33% of adults between the ages of 18-24 spend between 8-15 hours/week online vs. 21% of adults ages 65+ (Wauters, 2009). In 2000, a study revealed that one in five American adults does not use the Internet. Among those adults, almost half of elderly people who purposefully do not access the internet say that they don’t feel the Internet is necessary or relevant to them. Most of them have never used the internet and neither has anyone in their home. This clearly shows a lack of education and familiarity. In fact, about one in five of them attribute a lack of knowledge about technology to their reason for not using the Internet (Digital Differences, …show more content…
Most recently, this divide was witnessed during the 2013 tax season. Those people who have access to the Internet were able to e-file free of charge and receive a return via direct deposit. This process is considerably quicker than mailing in a return and waiting for a paper check to come in the mail. In the same category, those taxpayers who are comfortable enough filing their own taxes can do so with the help of Internet based tax programs. The IRS even has a portion of their website dedicated to Frequently Asked (tax) Questions (FAQ’s) that can be accessed at any time of the day or night. Our local governments are also using the Internet to keep their constituents informed and a surprisingly large number of people are showing interest. Approximately 40% of adult Internet users have gone online for data regarding government spending and activities (Government Online, 2010). Conversely, those local government agencies with lower median incomes and higher poverty percentages are less likely to have a web presence. This indicates that efforts to reduce the digital divide in terms of citizen access to the Internet may not guarantee equal access to government services (Is There, 2012). All the different forms of digital divide affect people in different ways. Not all of the consequences are from a lack of Internet availability, however. For instance, those people who are consider