Social View of the Digital Divide

Name: Chantelle Ng

Course: CCT260

Due Date: Thursday November 16, 2006

Professor: Elizabeth LittleJohn

Society tends to blow everything out of proportion due to the way it was built and set. Society has a strong impact on individuals because we are prone to follow trends and set trends so other countries or communities will follow. Technology has played a huge role in society and its ever-changing concepts that keep businesses running and the rise of the economy. The main concern of technology evolving is for the reason that individuals want faster and efficient technology, consequently society believes that it will benefit almost everyone according to their own lifestyle. However, not everyone can afford to have the latest technology or trying to keep up with the latest gadgets. There is a specific term to state this segregation which is known as the digital divide which used to illustrate how alienated individuals are in the world that can use or have access to technology such as the Internet, telephone, and television. The digital divide is a general understanding of an on growing gap of individuals who have access to computer or some sort of technology and skills and a general understanding of how to use it. Society tends to segregate individuals based on their social status and the factors that make up these statuses tend to be the level of education, the amount of income, and the geographical location. Nevertheless, there are negative outcomes of the digital divide disengagement; it is just a matter of understanding of what individuals expect the outcome of information technology. The digital divide has affected society in a negative aspect in relation to class, income, gender and social gap of access of information technology and the Internet.

The negative aspects of the digital divide is broken down into three sections, the first section is individuals who have access to the technology, the second part is individuals who have the knowledge to understand and to benefit from information technology and finally the difference of individuals who have the knowledge for technology and those who do not. The digital divide has segregated class groupings and which is even widening the gap further due to the fact that “This theme is echoed in Canada. A recent report funded by Industry Canada and Human Resources Development Canada notes that while use of the Internet is growing rapidly the "awareness and the use of these new technologies and services are highly polarized along social class and generational lines, creating a digital divide." The report also observes that there is a shrinking of the middle class and a swelling of the lower class, which "suggests that optimism about all Canadians being connected to the Internet is exaggerated" (Reddick, 2000, p. 1, 50)” (Birdsall, 2000). It is the way the social norm associates information technology with having more class in terms means that individuals who have an ample amount of income will be able to afford access to technology, and those of lesser income will less likely be able to. The class groupings in society are associated with income taking into account the higher your status in the class the greater the income that is being made. Not only does income play a huge role in the negative aspects of the digital divide, families that are well off are able to afford Internet access and are able to retrieve information that is need. “Despite the increase in access to the information highway in all income categories, a gap remains; recent Statistics Canada data indicates that those living in the highest income households were almost five times more likely to use access to the Internet than those in the lowest income households (Canada, 1999)” (Birdsall, 2000). In relation to gender in the digital divide there has been a statistical study done to show which gender uses the Internet the most according to age, and it was shown that men had the most usage compared to women. This outcome is due to the point of how our society views gender, the factors that contribute to this outcome is the skills, opportunities and the lifestyles of gender groupings. Our society is prone to stereotyping males and females and categorizing in certain roles that they should suited for. An example of why women have a lower Internet usage rate according to age is because the social norm views women as being the caretaker in the family and the men as the breadwinner. So the men are able to experience or be exposed to new technology outside their home more than the average home caretaker. The digital divide has created social gaps which contributes to a negative factor in the digital divide since country with a well developed economy has a strong technological information then the gap will widen for the reason that a country with a poor economy and low technological information it will create a sense of division, and will put the two countries on a different level on the digital divide spectrum. It will provide well-developed countries with better opportunities and it will just bestow evidence to third world countries that they are less privileged than others. This social gap is usually triggered by gaps in gender groups, the economy, political views and geographic location. With more money in the economy there can be a huge impact on how advance the technology in the country can be to make it more efficient and meet the demands of consumers. However, the down fall of this situation is it provides less opportunities and lack of skills in the working environment because individuals who live in a poor economical country they won’t have the technological advances as others and it makes it more difficult for them to find jobs and be technological inclined with society.

Overall, the digital divide has many negative impacts on society and individuals, the further and more developed technology is, the further the gap is widening due to the fact that people in society cannot afford certain information technology while others are able to. This may benefit society that is able to afford information technology and access to the Internet for their citizens. Trying to close the gap on the digital divide will be a difficult thing to do considering the lines have been already laid out; you can’t change the economy, political and information technology around trying balance how things run in society. On the whole, there negative outcomes of the digital divide separation, it all depends how individuals perceive the situation and how the will handle this in the near future.

Works Cited

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Camacho, Kemly(2006). Digital Divide Online at: <http://www.vecam.org/article.php3?id_article=549&nemo=edm>, consulted on November 10, 2006.

High Speed Internet Access Guide (2006). Dial Up, DSL, Cable, Satellite & Wireless Service Providers. Online at: <http://www.high-speed-internet-access-guide.com/>, consulted on November 7, 2006.

Internet World Stats: Usage and Population Statistics (2006). Broadband and Consumer E-Commerce in Canada Dec 2004 Review. Online at: <http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/ca.htm>, consulted on November 9, 2006.

The Digital Strategy: Creating Our Digital Future(2006). “Glossary of Key Terms”. Online at: < http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/templates/Page____60.aspx/>, consulted on November 10, 2006.

Sciadas, George (2002). The Digital Divide in Canada. Online at: < http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/statcan/digital_divide-e/56F0009XIE2002001.pdf >, consulted on March November 4, 2006.

Warschauer, Mark (2002). “Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide” First Monday: Peer- reviewed journal on the Internet. Online at: <http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_7/warschauer/>, consulted November 2, 2006.

Voon, Jeffrey (2003). “The Digital Divide in Canada”. Online at: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr500/02-03-wt2/www/J_Voon/index.htm/, consulted November 2, 2006.