Jose Chacon
Digital Divide
Digital Divide: The unequal access to technology, information, and communications via computers, smartphones, and the internet due to socio-economic levels as well as location. The digital divide goes beyond simply having technology and internet access; it also includes the ability to utilize these resources effectively.
The relationship regarding the easy and equal distribution of education and information has been discussed by individuals like Mary Wollstonecraft, Immanuel Kant, and Jean Jacques Rousseau in the mid-late 1700s (Eddy, 2023). Their work helped shape laws and advocacy for the poor and working class from the Industrial Revolution until modern times pushing for equal access for all. This term, digital divide originated in the mid-1990s when the United States Department of Commerce published a series of research reports on “Falling Through the Net” investigating differences between those with easy access to the internet and those who did not. Their final report, Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide (Adams,2000) clearly defines the term and the differences between the “haves” and “have nots”. Since then the term has evolved to incorporate the qualities and speeds of these communication technologies, as well as digital literacy and resources to assist in fastly evolving technologies (Bernard, 2011).
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the direct correlation between the digital divide and mental health issues, being cut off from telehealth services, online support systems, and updates increased feelings of isolation, anxiety, and stress for individuals with inadequate digital access. The need for rural areas to have a high-speed internet connection, for all to have affordable access, and for schools to have the resources to provide technological devices to their students became paramount (Rouse, 2021). Misuse of this term can reduce the complexity of these inequalities or divert attention from fundamental factors like poverty, education, and infrastructure.
References
Adams, O. (2000). Falling through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide: A Report on the Telecommunications and Information Technology Gap in America. Journal of Government Information, 27, 245-246.Falling through the net: A survey of the “have nots” in rural and Urban America.
Bernard, S. (2011, August 8). Crossing the digital divide: Bridges and barriers to digital inclusion. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/digital-divide-technology-access-inclusion#:~:text=The%20term%20digital%20divide%20was%20coined%20in%20the,and%20the%20Internet%20and%20those%20who%20do%20not.
Cheshmehzangi, A., Zou, T., & Su, Z. (2022). The digital divide impacts on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 101, 211–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2022.01.009
Eddy, Matthew Daniel (2023). Media and the Mind: Art, Science, and Notebooks as Paper Machines, 1700–1830. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-18386-2
Roese, J. (2021, January 27). Covid-19 exposed the digital divide. here’s how we can close it. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/01/covid-digital-divide-learning-education/
