Olivia London, Molly Cook, Evan Moss

Introduction The digital divide is the difference in ability to access technological resources among different groups of people.

Digital Divide The digital divide includes lack of physical access to resources and lack of skills to use resources. The digital divide affects groups based on gender, income, race, age, and location.

Income and The Digital Divide 25% of America’s poorest homes have internet access while 80% of households earning over $75,000 per year have internet access.

Race and The Digital Divide Access to the internet in America: 31.8% of Hispanics 39.8% of African Americans 59.9% of Whites

Gender and The Digital Divide A study found that a family’s computer was more likely to be put in the boy’s room than in the girl’s room. (AWID) Children are raised to consider computer science a male dominated field. A study showed that women use the internet more for social purposes while men use it for recreation and technical purposes. (IT&Society)

Age and The Digital Divide The elderly were not raised with modern technology so generraly do not understand how to use it.

Challenges to Solving The Problem Technology is not a necessity. Some people are still trying to meet basic needs and some people are simply not interested in technology. Difficulty of evening out income disparities which lead to the digital divide Difficulty of providing computers and internet access to all of the people without them

Possible Solutions to the Problem Race and Income: Programs to teach computer skills to lower income children, donations of computers Age: Programs to educate the elderly on computer use Gender: More female-friendly software/programs Location: Providing computers in communities without any and teaching them the skills to use the computers (Often in developing countries some people can afford computers but do not know how to use them.)

Opinion We believe the solutions for lessening the digital divide should me implemented on a wider scale. It is important for everyone to have access to technological resources. Also having the skills to use technological resources can give people a better chance at improving their situation.