Digital Divide

The following comment was written by an anonymous author in response to the digital divide that is so evident in our society today. “Power is necessarily unequal when one group knows what’s going on and the other group does not. And the powerless, lacking information as they do, almost necessarily function at the bottom of the economic and political pyramid of almost any society” (Racial divide,2010). Whether it is gender, racial, economic or disability related, our nation is segregated by the haves and the have-nots.

Digital Divide defined

What is meant by Digital Divide? The Digital Divide is the lack of ability for certain groups, usually socio-economic and cultural, to access necessary information and communication technology (ICT) (Gorski, 2001). The lack of access usually includes the unavailability to computer and internet services. As describe by Gorski (2001), the digital divide is further subdivided by gender, race, income and disabilities.

Gender

With the increase of availability of access to technology in society today, women are still lagging behind their male counterparts (Conversations for a Better World, 2010). Why is this still happening in the Twenty-first Century? Globally, the root cause is the cultural treatment of women. In many cultures worldwide, women are denied access to education let alone technology. Even if they are given the opportunity to use a computer, most often they lack the computer skills to effectively navigate most websites (Digital Gender Divide, n.d.).

In America and other developed countries, the digital divide that separates gender is much narrower, and often equal to that of males, depending on the survey. If a digital divide does separate the genders in developed n...

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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.