The Digital Divide

Ask yourself the next question: how often do you take access to the Internet for granted? Never thought about this question? Well that is because we do take it for granted. Recently, I read an interesting article about the so called digital divide. The term digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to Internet and digital information and those who have limited or no access. This can occur on the level of society between individuals, as well on a global level between developed and less developed countries when it comes to technology.

The most important determinants of the digital divide are income, skills and infrastructure. Income refers to the possibility to afford a computer and/or other digital device on which you can have access to the Internet. In order to use the computer and the Internet, a person needs certain skills. This determinant often ligatures with age, since younger people are born in the so called ‘digital age’ and grew up while developing computer skills, older people did not and miss some important skills.

Besides age, skills ligature with the level of education a person has. Youth between the age of 12 and 24 are the most frequent computer users with 95% using a computer. When it comes to level of education we see at only 5 out of 10 low educated persons use a computer monthly. If we compare this to highly educated persons, this is 9 out of 10. Infrastructure refers to geographical aspects such as Internet availability in certain regions and the offer of Internet access providers.



In my opinion, the digital divide is something that for the greater part will be solved over time. Computers and Internet subscriptions will become cheaper and more affordable so more people will be able to buy a computer. Besides that, the generation who is not born in the digital age and have a lack of skills, will extinguish. The infrastructure of the Internet will develop more and more and as a result, more people will be able to subscribe for the Internet. Nevertheless, until that time, something needs to be done to prevent that some people in our society will be shut off from information.

So, do you freak out when your Internet connection fails to work? Leave a comment and tell me!