The Digital Divide

If you are unaware of the digital divide problem we have worldwide, let me inform you a little bit about this issue. The term itself, digital divide, is a gap between people with effective access to digital information and technology and those without. The article Bridging the digital divide goes into further details about the issue itself.

People that know about the digital divide problem think that there is some easy fix and it will solve everything, well they are wrong!! There are various reasons as to why we have a digital divide globally: economic equality, social mobility, social equality, democratic movements, and national security. These are just a few, but more specifically in this article they stress upon the fact that there needs to be more affordable technology that can be used by many and that keeps the use of electricity low. After reading this article I learned that yes there may be forms of cheaper technology but you also have to look into if it will keep the electricity bill low as well. This is especially true in India, where the article was about; India’s electric is nowhere on the cheap side. You may find cheap ways of technology but it could sky rocket the overall electricity bill, and you don’t want that. All of us globally want something that is cheap in every aspect for al of us.

By not mainstreaming countries like India into this technology revolution, it’s in essence hurting them. They are not as informed as they could/should be because they don’t have access for example like we do here in the U.S. Kids, teenagers, and even young adults don’t realize what an advantage we have to grow up with computers in our schools and homes, if we were that lucky. Some of us don’t realize that right here within the U.S. affordability is just as much of an issue as it is in a foreign country. If we could find this new form of technology and get it up and running worldwide we would not only be better in tune with what’s going on in the world, but we would be bettering the future of our children and possibly get them a better education by implementing these new advanced tools. Taking a step in the right direction would be to seriously educate those that have access to software that they aren’t using to its full potential. Also get some sort of funding underway for those who have no access whatsoever to the internet, and would benefit greatly!

In essence I agree with Manish Sharma, Vice President Asia Pacific, NComputing, Inc., who was narrating the article Bridging the digital divide. We need to put up more of fight with our government and get the funding rolling for this to make it more affordable for the public. Others have this access but it’s bigger companies that have the money to afford it and use it on a regular basis. We have the means and the ways to do this, we just have to get into action. Now I’m not saying there is any easy solution, but if we take the steps in the right direction we might just be on our way to accomplishing something to better our public.