Overcoming The Digital Divide In The United States
Andrew Melillo Feb 14, 2011
Professor Spector
The Digital Divide What is the digital divide? The digital divide means that there are significant amount of people in the country who don't have access to technology to internet or electronics but also do not have the skill to use it. Overcoming the digital divide has been made a priority by our government as well as other governments across the world in order to bring internet access to every person on the planet. Some think that the access to the Internet is a basic component of civil life that some developed countries aim to guarantee for their citizens. An important fact seems to be that much vital information for people's career, civic life, safety, etc. are increasingly provided via the Internet. Even social welfare services are sometimes administered and offered electronically. Today only about half of all Americans are connected to high speed internet, although this number is rising, the world is outpacing us. Over the last decade America has dropped from 4th in broadband to 22nd in the world in total usage. This is causing a major problem because today people are asked to apply for Jobs online as well as government services online, this means that there is a huge population of people who do not …show more content…
As more programs develop to help the less fortunate get access to computers and internet, as well as training for how to use basic functions of a computer; I believe that we could overcome the digital divide within the next 10 years and in the next 20 years have everyone on a broadband equivalent network. It is extremely important that we close the divide because it can only make our society stronger to spread the knowledge and ideas of people across the
Professor Spector
The Digital Divide What is the digital divide? The digital divide means that there are significant amount of people in the country who don't have access to technology to internet or electronics but also do not have the skill to use it. Overcoming the digital divide has been made a priority by our government as well as other governments across the world in order to bring internet access to every person on the planet. Some think that the access to the Internet is a basic component of civil life that some developed countries aim to guarantee for their citizens. An important fact seems to be that much vital information for people's career, civic life, safety, etc. are increasingly provided via the Internet. Even social welfare services are sometimes administered and offered electronically. Today only about half of all Americans are connected to high speed internet, although this number is rising, the world is outpacing us. Over the last decade America has dropped from 4th in broadband to 22nd in the world in total usage. This is causing a major problem because today people are asked to apply for Jobs online as well as government services online, this means that there is a huge population of people who do not …show more content…
As more programs develop to help the less fortunate get access to computers and internet, as well as training for how to use basic functions of a computer; I believe that we could overcome the digital divide within the next 10 years and in the next 20 years have everyone on a broadband equivalent network. It is extremely important that we close the divide because it can only make our society stronger to spread the knowledge and ideas of people across the