Overcoming The Digital Divide In The United States
Andrew Melillo Feb 14, 2011
Professor Spector
The Digital Divide What is the digital divide? The digital divide means that there are significant amount of people in the country who don't have access to technology to internet or electronics but also do not have the skill to use it. Overcoming the digital divide has been made a priority by our government as well as other governments across the world in order to bring internet access to every person on the planet. Some think that the access to the Internet is a basic component of civil life that some developed countries aim to guarantee for their citizens. An important fact seems to be that much vital information for people's career, civic life, safety, etc. are increasingly provided via the Internet. Even social welfare services are sometimes administered and offered electronically. Today only about half of all Americans are connected to high speed internet, although this number is rising, the world is outpacing us. Over the last decade America has dropped from 4th in broadband to 22nd in the world in total usage. This is causing a major problem because today people are asked to apply for Jobs online as well as government services online, this means that there is a huge population of people who do not …show more content…
have access to these resources. There is a great divide in the frequency of use and the number and type of online activities in which people engage vary substantially by whether they have Internet access at home and by the type of home Internet connection. "For example, almost one-third of Americans access the Internet on a daily basis. Ninety percent of these frequent users have Internet access in their homes, people without Internet access at home are not only much less likely to be Internet users in general, they are also much less likely to be frequent users."(Tech News). "Studies have shown that in one year if there was a 1% increase in broadband connectivity across the United States it would create over 300,000 jobs." (Anderberg) There are multiple issues that are causing the digital divide. Firstly, the economic issue. The digital divide is driven in the fact that some people can't afford to buy a computer. No matter what we do, there will always be a percentage of people that can afford neither a computer, or internet access at any speed (other than dial-up). "We should recognize that for truly poor developing countries, computers will remain out of the average citizen's reach for 20 years or more."(Nielsen) In advanced countries, computer cost is no longer an issue. A cheap computer (with a monitor) is about $350 today and has the computing power to do anything on the internet and access even the most demanding content on the internet. While it's true that a few people can't even afford $350, in another five years, computers will be one-fourth their current price and the problem of cost will be all but obsolete. Far worse than the economic divide is the fact that technology remains so complicated that many people couldn't use a computer even if they got one for free. Many others can use computers, but don't achieve the modern world's full benefits because most of the available services are too difficult for them to understand.
Although the growth of the percentage of overall home Internet connections slowed, dramatic changes occurred in the relative distribution of the various types of Internet connections. "Between September 2001 and October 2003, the number of households with Internet connections grew by 6.9 million. However, the percentage of households with high-speed Internet or broadband connections more than doubled, increasing from 9.1 to 19.9 percent of all U.S. or by 12 million households." (Tech News) Dial-up connections actually declined during this period as people upgraded to broadband. These factors suggest that a transition is underway as Internet households move from dial-up service to faster broadband connections. The increase in Internet totals was said to be due to growth in both of the major high-speed connection technologies: DSL and cable. As you can see, although we are slowly closing the 'Digital Divide' we still have a long way to come to ensure that every person in the country and across the world has access to the vast wealth of information contained on the internet.
As more programs develop to help the less fortunate get access to computers and internet, as well as training for how to use basic functions of a computer; I believe that we could overcome the digital divide within the next 10 years and in the next 20 years have everyone on a broadband equivalent network. It is extremely important that we close the divide because it can only make our society stronger to spread the knowledge and ideas of people across the
planet.
Sources:
Dickard, Norris. "The Digital Divide: Where We Are." 1 Aug. 2002. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-where-we-are-today>.
Arrison, Sonia. "What Digital Divide? - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://news.cnet.com/2010-1071-858537.html>.
Anderberg, Marc. "The Digital Divide: Bridging the Job Opportunities Gap." 12 July 2002. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://socrates.cdr.state.tx.us/isocrates/files/dig1212.pdf>.
2003, October. "A Nation Online: Broadband Age." National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/NationOnlineBroadband04.htm>.
Nielsen, Jakob. "Digital Divide: The Three Stages (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)." Useit.com: Jakob Nielsen on Usability and Web Design. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital- divide.html>
"Digital Divide - ICT Information Communications Technology - 50x15 Initiative." Internet World Stats - Usage and Population Statistics. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.internetworldstats.com/links10.htm>.
Professor Spector
The Digital Divide What is the digital divide? The digital divide means that there are significant amount of people in the country who don't have access to technology to internet or electronics but also do not have the skill to use it. Overcoming the digital divide has been made a priority by our government as well as other governments across the world in order to bring internet access to every person on the planet. Some think that the access to the Internet is a basic component of civil life that some developed countries aim to guarantee for their citizens. An important fact seems to be that much vital information for people's career, civic life, safety, etc. are increasingly provided via the Internet. Even social welfare services are sometimes administered and offered electronically. Today only about half of all Americans are connected to high speed internet, although this number is rising, the world is outpacing us. Over the last decade America has dropped from 4th in broadband to 22nd in the world in total usage. This is causing a major problem because today people are asked to apply for Jobs online as well as government services online, this means that there is a huge population of people who do not …show more content…
have access to these resources. There is a great divide in the frequency of use and the number and type of online activities in which people engage vary substantially by whether they have Internet access at home and by the type of home Internet connection. "For example, almost one-third of Americans access the Internet on a daily basis. Ninety percent of these frequent users have Internet access in their homes, people without Internet access at home are not only much less likely to be Internet users in general, they are also much less likely to be frequent users."(Tech News). "Studies have shown that in one year if there was a 1% increase in broadband connectivity across the United States it would create over 300,000 jobs." (Anderberg) There are multiple issues that are causing the digital divide. Firstly, the economic issue. The digital divide is driven in the fact that some people can't afford to buy a computer. No matter what we do, there will always be a percentage of people that can afford neither a computer, or internet access at any speed (other than dial-up). "We should recognize that for truly poor developing countries, computers will remain out of the average citizen's reach for 20 years or more."(Nielsen) In advanced countries, computer cost is no longer an issue. A cheap computer (with a monitor) is about $350 today and has the computing power to do anything on the internet and access even the most demanding content on the internet. While it's true that a few people can't even afford $350, in another five years, computers will be one-fourth their current price and the problem of cost will be all but obsolete. Far worse than the economic divide is the fact that technology remains so complicated that many people couldn't use a computer even if they got one for free. Many others can use computers, but don't achieve the modern world's full benefits because most of the available services are too difficult for them to understand.
Although the growth of the percentage of overall home Internet connections slowed, dramatic changes occurred in the relative distribution of the various types of Internet connections. "Between September 2001 and October 2003, the number of households with Internet connections grew by 6.9 million. However, the percentage of households with high-speed Internet or broadband connections more than doubled, increasing from 9.1 to 19.9 percent of all U.S. or by 12 million households." (Tech News) Dial-up connections actually declined during this period as people upgraded to broadband. These factors suggest that a transition is underway as Internet households move from dial-up service to faster broadband connections. The increase in Internet totals was said to be due to growth in both of the major high-speed connection technologies: DSL and cable. As you can see, although we are slowly closing the 'Digital Divide' we still have a long way to come to ensure that every person in the country and across the world has access to the vast wealth of information contained on the internet.
As more programs develop to help the less fortunate get access to computers and internet, as well as training for how to use basic functions of a computer; I believe that we could overcome the digital divide within the next 10 years and in the next 20 years have everyone on a broadband equivalent network. It is extremely important that we close the divide because it can only make our society stronger to spread the knowledge and ideas of people across the
planet.
Sources:
Dickard, Norris. "The Digital Divide: Where We Are." 1 Aug. 2002. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-where-we-are-today>.
Arrison, Sonia. "What Digital Divide? - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://news.cnet.com/2010-1071-858537.html>.
Anderberg, Marc. "The Digital Divide: Bridging the Job Opportunities Gap." 12 July 2002. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://socrates.cdr.state.tx.us/isocrates/files/dig1212.pdf>.
2003, October. "A Nation Online: Broadband Age." National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/anol/NationOnlineBroadband04.htm>.
Nielsen, Jakob. "Digital Divide: The Three Stages (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)." Useit.com: Jakob Nielsen on Usability and Web Design. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital- divide.html>
"Digital Divide - ICT Information Communications Technology - 50x15 Initiative." Internet World Stats - Usage and Population Statistics. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.internetworldstats.com/links10.htm>.