BLOG 2 COM 305

Since the increasing use of the internet from the early 1990’s till now, there has been an impending issue known as the digital divide. This has been caused because this new technology is not cheap, and a great percentage of the world can not afford it. With this comes a small group of people who have access to seemingly limitless source of information, while the larger group are left out and being left behind more and more everyday.

According to Jakob Nielson, who wrote on the digital divide, there are three main stages that divide those with and those without the information source. These three stages are 1) The Economic Divide 2) The Usability Divide and 3) the Empowerment Divide. Each one has extremely valid points, and the evidence of them can be seen today. The economic divide is quite simple enough. Although it is not as large of an issue in industrialized societies such as America and Western Europe, it is a prominent issue for more than half of the globe. Computers and access to the internet are simply too expensive, and repairs/ maintenance would be monetarily impossible for many. The usability divide is also self explanatory. If those who can not afford to have a computer therefore don’t use one, they will have no knowledge of how to operate one, and the technology is only going to advance from here. This leaves that larger group who are left out to keep getting more left behind everyday. The last one, according to Nielson, is the most important and troubling. Long story short, EVEN if everyone in the world had access to a computer and knew how to use it, not everyone would. Not everyone would want to interact online, and therefore there would still be a digital divide. For instance, even though many seniors in America have money, there is not a large group of them that use the internet. I have four grandparents who are well off and have the opportunity to have access to the internet, but only one out of the four makes use of it.

Digital Divide: The Three Stages

The digital divide is a tricky situation because you have to way the pros and cons. As of now, the gap in percentages is decreasing according to the percentages we saw in class, but the majority still have no access to the internet, and if they do they share one computer with multiple others. Each day that goes by the larger group misses out on more and more – as the technology advances and becomes more difficult, as more happens online that they will not hear about, and as more information becomes available online. This will leave the others out of the loop in news, pop culture, and world events.

If someone wants to take the initiative to close this gap, they must have a lot of power behind them, as well as money. This will not be a cheap venture since computer and access will not only have to be purchased for a large percentage of the world but also maintained and repaired since they shall be too poor to do it themselves.