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The Digital Divide

Millions of people now use the Internet for everything from doing homework to buying books, or playing or downloading games, music and movies. Levels of user participation and publication on the Internet have also surged, from blogs, podcasts and interactive wikis that anyone can modify, through to services for sharing photos and video clips, such as Flickr and Daily Motion. Social networking sites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace represent another rapidly developing frontier of communication.

The Digital Divide is the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technologies and those without. 

It is the term used to describe the discrepancy between people who have access to and the resources to use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and people who do not have the resources and access to the technology. 

The term also describes the discrepancy between those who have the skills, knowledge and abilities to use the technologies and those who do not. The digital divide can exist between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, between the educated and uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global scale between more and less industrially developed nations.

The Internet Age and The People Of The World      

The Internet Revolution is bypassing the poor and minorities and those that live in rural communities and inner cities in the United States and around the world. 

The gap between people who have access to the internet and those that don't is getting increasingly wider day by day. This gap is clearly between racial and income levels. Minorities, low-income persons, the less educated, and children of single-parent households, particularly when they reside in rural areas or central cities, are among the groups that lack access to information resources. Knowledge is power and a vast portion of our nation has no access to it.  To be connected today increasingly means to have access to telephones, computers, and the Internet. While these items may not be necessary for survival, arguably in today's emerging digital economy they are necessary for success.  

* 9.2 % of Black Families have home computers

* 8.7% of Hispanic families have home computers

* 11% of People with incomes under $10,000 have home computers

 * Whites are more likely to have access to the Internet from home than Blacks or Hispanics have from any location

Today, there is a big push by the United Nations to make internet access a human right. This push was made when it called for universal access to basic communication and information services at the UN Administrative Committee on Coordination. 

Credit:www.internetworldstats.com

While many people will never have internet access, the people that have the access are switching from Dial-up Internet access  to always-on broadband technology. They are also accessing the Internet via all manner of wireless devices, from laptops to mobile phones.

Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants, by technology, June 2007

• Department of commerce report Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide-Click Here

Credit: U.S.  Department Of Commerce , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

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Data compiled from The British Antarctic Study, NASA, Environment Canada, UNEP, EPA and other sources as stated and credited  Researched by Charles Welch-Updated dailyThis Website is a project of the The Ozone Hole Inc. a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization