A Closer Look at the Digital Divide

     The Digital Divide, or Accessibility, is a problem that affects many sub-categories including various countries and in the classroom. “The digital divide includes differences related to gender, age, and levels of education, geographic areas, minority languages, and social structures” (Digital Divide). Many people who grew up without technology as a child are having trouble catching up to the technological advances that are rapidly growing. There is also a separation based on the different languages on the web. Many countries have their own “.com” equivalent in their native language, which is a start towards equality on the web; however, the dominant language on computers themselves is English and buying a customized laptop in another language is more expensive. Based on where someone lives, they may not have enough money or access to a computer. In many European countries, internet is not common at home. “On average thirty-seven percent of European homes are online” (Digital Divide). How are we, as a society and global community, supposed to help? The countries that are behind on technology usually have more pressing matters to handle, such as food and shelters. Donating money to help buy a poor community technology would not fully help the problem because they would either not know how to use it or not paying attention to it since they are facing other issues that are more crucial.

     The Digital Divide is a problem throughout the world; however, it is not just related to access. The effective use of computers and the internet is also becoming part of the issue (Digital Divide). Many people are not using the Internet effectively. The Internet should be used for networking such as blogging; however, many people spend hours on end chatting online, which cannot be good for their social skills. People who solely chat online cannot be very good public speakers because they are used to typing what they say, instead of presenting to the public. The teen population seems to be easily distracted by Facebook and other chat rooms. Facebook can be used effectively, if it not just browsed through during times of immense boredom. It was meant to be a good way for connecting with friends, family, and co-workers via messaging or pictures. The status updates seems like a useless tool that distracts many people.

     The last important component of the Digital Divide is the technological separation due to the high level of difficulty computers are gravitating towards. Many people cannot use a computer to its full potential because they do not know how to operate various complicated programs. Also, “almost 40% of the population has lower literacy skills, and yet few websites follow the guidelines for writing for low-literacy users” (Digital Divide: The Three Stages). Low-literacy does not mean illiterate; people who are lower-literacy readers can read, but it is difficult. Many websites are designed for a reading level of at least a high school graduation. This is not going to support the lower literacy readers. If the illiterate people are taken into account as well as the lower literacy, the Digital Divide affects many individuals. How can technology keep growing at such a rapid rate when quite a big portion of the world either cannot read at all or has difficulty doing so? The technological advances need to slow down, so that the millions of individuals who do not have access for various distinct reasons can catch up.