The Digital divide is a term for explaining the gap between demographics and regions that have access to the modern technology that give necessary and important information as well as communications technology, and those that don’t have access. Many people around the world do not have access to the internet neither global communication.
North America is a huge continent made up of countries like the USA, Canada, Mexico and more. Approximately 579 million people live in north america, and the state california is located in the west coast of the USA. Since the USA is a rather developed country, a very high rate of the population has access to internet, specifically 98% of the entire country have access to internet but one in four does not
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In 2013, 69% of California had a broadband internet connection at home which increased from 2008 where it was 55%. Although in 2016 due to (CASC) 30% of all Californians (approximately 12 million people) do not have proper broadband internet. These people, who are divided from the digital usage in California, are the people who mostly are older, or/and live in rural areas rather than in urban areas. The history of the digital divide in California did increase by time, as stated above. The numbers have risen throughout history, and California can be proud to say that their digital divide is decreasing since most users and/or citizens do have access to the internet but can not adopt it due to being either low income households, since the devices and monthly fees they have to pay are to high and they can not afford it. Although a struggle the state of california has been facing, concerning the digital divide is the Latin immigrants. Latinos have been confronted with a massive disability which is the language barrier (The Greenlining). But not only have they had struggles with the language throughout and within digital usage but also most Latin-American immigrant families live far below the poverty line, which …show more content…
The country is a MEDC , but its development goes extremely fast, but despite that fact, Brazil is still facing a huge digital divide problem at the moment . The internet in Brazil has a relatively short history, since it was accessible to for public only since 1995, and before that time it was mainly used for information exchange among academic institutions and NGOs (a non-governmental organizations)(3). Just in twenty one years, Brazil made a huge progress and became the fifth most wired country in the world(4). Although the growth on Internet usage has been rapid, there is still a large part of the population that has never accessed the Internet. Just 105 million citizens have an excess to internet , which is a bit more than 50% of the Brazil’s population. 56% of the people in Urban areas do not have Internet access by their living area (area of residence), while in Rural areas the rate goes up to
With all the technology today, the Internet is still off-limits to certain people. Everyone does not own a computer and because of this, everyone is not computer literate. Mostly middle and upper class people have their own laptops, or computers, and are able to pay for Internet service. Other people, like student's who use their schools computers or people who go to libraries, are forced to use whatever equipment is available, which is, in most cases, not top of the line and sometimes may or may not have the Internet. Soon this world will be computer-based and if you do not have your own computer or at least access to one, you will be behind. The Internet is an important part of computers considering the many uses it offers.
With the decrease in cost, computers are becoming easier for low income families to own, and gain technological skills that they may have not once been able to acquire. “In 1997 only 37 percent of households with incomes from $15,000 to $24,999 used computers at home or at work,” says Samuelson. That number grew to 47 percent in just four years, while during the same years; usage among families with incomes over $75,000 rose only 7 percent, from 81 percent to 88 percent. A fear that came from the idea of the digital divide was that low wage earners would not be able to purchase a computer or gain the computer skills needed to be competitive in the job market and their children would also suffer from a disadvantage. Samuelson’s data shows otherwise, the amount of computers in homes is actually greater among lower earners than higher earners. Also, as of 2000 most public school systems were connected to the internet with one computer for every four children, giving students that may not have a computer at home the opportunity to gain basic computer
The Internet has just started to make an impact in Italy. A recent study by Eurisko (a very reliable research company) indicates that 1.8 million people say they use the Internet. They also found that 1.1% of Italian families (216,000) have an Internet connection at home as compared to 16.7% (40 million) in the USA. The population of Italy is around 57.3 milli...
3.... ... middle of paper ... ... From the “Internet” section of this module, and the text. Define the term “Digital Divide” and list at least one statistic from the text that demonstrates that a divide exists among different parts of the world related to Internet usage.
Over the past few decades, the rapid growth of information and communication technology (ICT) has transformed modern society around the globe. However, while Developed countries have long since embraced and benefited from the integration of ICT’s such as the internet into their culture many developing countries are still struggling to follow in their footsteps. As a result they risk becoming left behind in the past while the rest of the world advances creating a gap referred to as the digital divide. As time continues on the divide gets wider and its presence becomes an increasingly vital issue for countries who fail to adapt to the growing digital world. However, in order to do this other issues must be addressed as well. There are several socio-cultural obstacles to the adoption and final acceptance of the internet in third world countries.
The internet has a low monthly fee that everyone can afford to access. Sometimes they even have free internet access. It is easy to access. Turn the computer on and click one button and one will connect to the internet. The internet is always available to all, even to those who can't afford to have the computer at home, can't afford to pay the monthly fee, or those people who travel around. They can access the internet through the library, school, or even in coffee shops at various cities. There is a library in every city in the U.S. The technology is becoming more and more developed everyday. People can now own a small computer that is transferable, a laptop. They can carry and use it anytime and anywhere they go. People can talk or communicate to as many people as they want, not like telephone where we can only talk to one or two people at a time. It's just as a retired librarian woman said in John Schwartzs article "The American Dream, and Email for All": "I'm a grandmother; I wish some of my friends were online. It's so much simpler than to communicate in person. You just have to sit down and type something" (241).
As this critical juncture begins to take place, there has been much debate between scholars as to whether we should be enthusiastic or wary of these new changes. In Digital Disconnect and in his lectures, McChesney observes both views in an attempt to advance the discussion. On one side, the celebrants are embracing the Internet as a medium that will change society for the better. In Digital Disconnect, McChesney says, “In sum, the celebrants reaffirm one of the most important original arguments from the 1990s, that the Internet will be a force for democracy and good worldwide, ending monopolies of information and centralized control over communication” (McChesney 8). In my opinion, this celebrant view should only be regarded as a best-case scenario because of the unexpected obstacles for society that can...
We live in an age of 24-hour news, thousands of TV channels and global Internet. There’s no longer any need to travel to the local library, spending time hunting down books. We don't even have to sit in front of a desktop computer in order to start searching the world wide web. The era in which we first-world citizens find ourselves has afforded us with virtual access to unlimited information at our fingertips. It’s now a permanent part of everyday life. Our children can’t envision a “stone age” culture without the Internet. We ingest Wi-Fi like air, as we are virtually never without it. The smartphone we cradle in our hands enables us, with a few finger touches, to explore, research and digitally download just about anything our heart desires. We are
Turkle, Sherry. "Digital Nation." Interview. PBS. PBS, 22 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 May 2014. .
The Internet has become a major tool for communication and access to information for over two and half billion people (Wright 121). Although Internet has become an unavoidable reality that is consuming our planet in a web of information. This process is being shaped by our actions and choices which ultimately drives us together (Deibert 11). Nowadays China has over 538 million netizens, the world’s largest online community (Feng & Guo 335).
In summary, the Digital Divide is real and has placed a severe gap between certain groups of people in the American culture. The Land of Opportunity is not necessarily made available to all. In her CNet article, Sonia Arrison (2002), provides a unique perspective as to the reason behind the gap. “The digital divide is not a crisis, and it is certainly not the civil liberties issue of the 21st century. The real issues are the sorry state of education and the push to raise the taxes that affect lower income families most” (Arrison, 2002). Arrison states that if the Government could improve the education in the American schools and stop luxury taxes on so many services, the Digital Divide could easily be narrowed. By narrowing the divide, more families could afford Internet if so desired, and students could have access to a better education.
Even in countries like Europe or the US, there is still uneducated people, including the lack of digital and language literacy. According to McKinsey & Company (2014), approximately 900 million of people who are not accessing or connected to the internet are uneducated. Incentives can also become a barrier, even though the internet utility is developing increasingly to providing access to information and resources in order to improve quality of life. However, there are still many people who still does not have a compelling reason to go online. Incentives, low incomes and affordability, user capability, and infrastructure are all a great barriers that stand between millions and accessing the
Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Will Smart Phones Eliminate the Digital Divide?" The Journal (1 Feb. 2011).
However, as time has moved on, research seems to support the proponents of the Internet, and can be explained by two changes in Internet use that have occurred since its manifestation. First off, an increase in the amount of Internet users has allowed for indi...
Surveying the Digital Future: How the PC and Internet are changing the world. (1999, June). Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Communication Policy.