Similarities Between The United States And The Digital Divide

From the time that I was born in 1979 until today, there has been major leaps and bounds in technology. In the 80s you would be hard pressed to find a computer in any household, let alone a cell phone. During my early years, you could only expect to find computers in science fiction movies or at government agencies. Now you can barely find a human being in the United States above the age of twelve who does not have a cell phone on them at all times. At the same time almost every household in America today has some form of vessel to access the Internet, to name a few, smartphone, computer, laptop, tablet, or even MP3 players. Due to these advancements in technology, there has been major growth in the way that we as a population communicate.

Of course there are still some countries that are falling even farther behind due to their minimal availability to telephone lines. For example, most African countries are still very technologically under developed. To speak to the United States and the digital divide, there is still a small disparity between the haves and the have-nots. A lot of this disparity is due to poverty, as these people who are effected by poverty do not have the resources to afford access or even the technology needed to partake. This affects the students who are of a poverty stricken household. "On 17 March 1996, Wolinsky published 'The Digital Divide', which examined how 'unequal computer access for students is creating tomorrow's haves and have-nots'" (Gunkel, 2003, p. 4). These students have equal opportunity at school to access the Internet and to use computers to work on papers and other assignments. However, many of these students only can rely upon this access to work on these assignments, as they do not have this same availability at home. That being said, there are local libraries, government employment centers, and government issued phones that have helped minimize this digital divide, but still not at an equivalent