Digital Divide

I apologize for the tardiness--- just another example of the terrible internet connection out in the Boondocks :)

The Digital Divide. Mentioned briefly in the articles we read for this week and it was quite brilliantly described as being “about places left behind.” I never gave the digital divide too much thought, sadly I had the outlook that the internet was everywhere because it was everywhere that I had ever been. But then I moved to Dewitt, or rather I moved to the boondocks, where internet is not available, where streets aren’t plowed, and when a storm hits and takes out power we are the last to get it back. But mostly let’s focus on the internet issue.

As a person who has always had the internet and a cell phone in order to connect me with anyone and everyone at any given time, being without the internet is rather frightening. But then you get over the initial fright, which turns into annoyance. What if I want to work from home? What if I need information? Why should I have to drive all the way to town in order to get a good connection? Why did I take the internet for granted for so long?

Luckily the Federal Broadband Stimulus is working to fix this issue. Go here for more information: http://www.broadbandusa.gov/

Also mentioned in the same article is the fact that though the internet creates new ways of communicating, connecting, organizing etc, It is also creating new inequalities among people. Between those who have the internet and those who don’t and those who know how to use it and those who don’t, those who create web content and those who do not.

This also broadens the divide between those who are literate and those who are not. Those who are literate can use the internet and gain more information---those who are not literate cannot do this and therefore remain even farther divided. The informed get more informed and the ignorant remain ignorant.