Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Divide is Everywhere

I had been searching the technology portion of the New York Times for quite some time trying to find the perfect article that showed the digital divide.  It wasn't until I read articles about the Kindle, new blogs on Google, street lights that could be turned on by cell phones, podcasts, Twitter and chip plants that I realized how much technology our society depends on.  Think about it, if you had no money to buy a computer, or a cell phone, look at how much stuff you would be missing out on.  There would be no blogging, no podcasts, let alone a Kindle.  People on low incomes have to choose which technology is more important to them.  Is it a computer?  A cell phone?  If they choose to have both, maybe that means they don't have a car or can't make the rent payments.  The digital divide is much more prevalent than we think.  Even among those teenagers who have texting and those who don't, the divide shows.  Those that don't have texting tend not to be contacted as much as those who do.  The digital divide is all over the place, just looking through the New York Times reminded me of that.

1 comment:

  1. The divides you listed are very important. I like how you pointed out that the poor have to choose between different types of technology. Although, when you stated that they have to choose between a cell phone or the internet, I think that decision can be brought back to the topic of libraries. Since libraries now offer easy access to computers I think this can help the poor in their disadvantage. But even with libraries helping close the divide I still believe the poor are at a great disadvantage.

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