You may be wondering what, if any, impact this will have on the world. Well, it may help for you to think about a few things first: Many people, when they do not understand something, or need to find out something, head straight to the Internet for solutions. What do those who do not have the Internet do? Sure, they can look something up in a book, but then their resources are limited. The Internet is vast and varied, and is probably the best place to go to learn something new. So, we can assume that those who do not have access to the Internet are at an intellectual disadvantage, relating the digital divide to the knowledge divide. The most obvious example would be the techno-savvy Western civilization in comparison to 3rd World Countries, who have no mobile phone communications, no social networking sites, lack of fast broadband Internet connections, no advanced Internet applications and so on. This shows a digital divide on a global scale, as the differences in technology vary from country to country.
I said there could be an intellectual divide because of this, but there could also be impediment on economic levels, too. If a country lacks the technology to progress their speed and efficiency in work, and also to keep constant communications to widen their area of trade (such as the internet), then they will fall behind in comparison to other countries, and earn less money from global investments than those companies included in the changing global market.
Education within schools is not only made easier by Internet and computer access, but the necessary skills children need to learn while handling a computer should be taught while they are still at a young enough age to absorb them easily. Should a school not have computers, the children within it could be at a serious disadvantage later in life when they need computing skills for their jobs or home use. In the 1990’s, rich schools were much more likely to have regular computer access, and a few years later, more likely to have available Internet access. Coming from a public primary school, I didn’t have computers available to me until I was around 8 years old (1998), and I don’t think we ever used the Internet, so I would presume we didn’t have it. I know children a lot younger than that now who even own their own laptops. Once I got to upper school, this drastically changed, and we were expected to use computers often, but I had to learn quickly to catch up after my disadvantage compared with the other youngsters who obviously could use computers at an earlier stage than me, and also the Internet. I’m perfectly fine with computers and the Internet by now, but had I not gone to an upper school with such an enthusiasm for computing, I would likely have struggled harder to learn, as neither of my parents could teach me. Even now, I’m still helping my mum out with anything bigger than e-mail checking.
Apparently, governments are trying to bridge the digital divide by devising strategies and creating practical measures to increase computer access.
Even now, in western society, some people do not have the access they need. I have a friend in University who is at a disadvantage because she cannot use the Internet except at the library because she cannot afford to pay for the net on top of everything else. I lost my internet for a few days, and the effect it had on my work was unprecedented, forcing me to waste time going to the library, and then becoming uncomfortable being surrounded by people constantly coughing and making noise, distracting me from my work, and I was therefore rushing to leave. People cannot ignore this digital divide and say that it doesn’t occur in our society anymore, because for some reason or another, it actually does, and is a serious issue.
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