The Digital Divide

Slide Show Content

* The Digital Divide

* Many groups will be affected

* What can be done?

* As a society we have to provide this information to everyone. Sometimes it takes creative ideas to obtain the desired outcome. One place to start would be the Library. It's free and can be accessed by most people.

* The Disabled

* A disability can make the learning about the digital world frustrating.

* The Elderly

The elderly faces a different type of frustration when using computers.

* The Poor and Disadvantaged

* The Poor and Disadvantage are so busy trying to survive learning the computer is not a priority.

* Minorities

* Even though most languages can be accessed in the digital world. Culture can be an obstacle for becoming a digital demon.

The DIGITAL DIVIDE

Lorraine Gaines

INF. 103 Computer Literacy

Prof: Nasser Halwani

March 6, 2012

In this paper we will explore the "Digital Divide". Using our text and other references we will define and delve into various aspects of the digital divide. Technology has reached revolutionary status. For the last 25 years we have seen an explosion of new electronic devices and concepts that's nothing short of amazing. Like all revolutions there are casualties. The casualties of this revolution are the elderly, disabled, disadvantaged, and minority races. Simply put the "Digital Divide" are those with lack of knowledge and capability on one side and everyone else I-pods, tablets and smart phones in hand moving on without them.

The "Digital Divide" is just another phrase born in the wake of the technology revolution. Many such words and phrases have developed as a result of the technology explosion we have experienced globally over the last 30years. Cyberspace, blogging, and texting are just examples of the new language that is emerging. The Digital Divide is more of a situation as opposed to a phrase. According to our text the digital society are those born before 1980. These individuals have the advantage of being a "digital native". The digital native enjoys growing up in a world where social media is the norm and electronic devices are introduced in early childhood. The people born before 1980 can be part of the new "digital society" but they have to adapt to the new digital world or be left behind where it is almost impossible to survive as a productive part of society. The "Digital Divide" is the world divided into two sides. On one side you have people with access and the ability and upgrades to use technology and the other side who doesn't. These two groups have subgroups. The main subgroups of the side that doesn't have access are the elderly, disabled, minority races and disadvantaged. Some of the groups overlap or share a common circumstance. Each group has different problems and reasons for their lack of access.

Computer technology and the internet can be a life changing event in the life of a disabled person. For those who have trouble walking or in need of transportation could shop and catch up with friends from home. Voice recognition could help the blind or people who have difficulty with movement. Even though these ideas hold a tremendous amount of promise and hope for the disabled it is unlikely that the majority of the disabled community will use it. According to The Disability Statistic Center only one fourth of people with disabilities own a computer and one tenth ever used the internet. Of course the statistics for the elderly, minority and disadvantaged disabled members of society are even less.

The elderly also are among the fallen when dealing with technology sometimes called the "grey digital divide". Some of the problems with access are like the others but the elderly are unique in some ways. Mistrust of the internet is one of the evils that plague the elderly and the internet. Many elders have a hard time understanding the privacy issue. When the media is constantly revealing people who have been convicted due to evidence found on the computer or "Facebook" it makes the older citizens weary of what can be trusted on the computer. There is also an opinion among the elderly that information and communication technology is for the young. This mindset leads a lack of interest in the internet and technology. There was a case study on the elderly and the internet a group of elderly individuals were chosen to be trained to become more functional in their own health care.