Kids Voice Concerns Over the Digital Divide

Students from some high schools in low-income areas of Los Angeles attended the recent Digital Media and Learning conference in San Francisco, where they called for policies to increase their access to technology in school. Many of the students described their frustration with current restrictive policies and a lack of adequate and up-to-date equipment, all of which they say are hampering their education and limiting their opportunities to compete against students from wealthier schools. “If our school has technology and equitable resources, our graduation rates and college attendance rates will increase,” a Morningside High student said. “This means we’ll have more prepared students for our democracy, and we’ll have more public conversations about equity.”

The App Gap

A recent study from Common Sense Media says that children are spending more time, and at a younger age, in front of screens of all kinds. That is no big surprise. One new thing, though, that the study pointed out is what some are calling the “app gap.” That is, that children of higher income families (those from families earning more than $75,000) are being introduced to mobile devices and the apps on them at a faster rate than lower income (families earning less than $30,000.) This just seems like a further extension of the digital divide that has been around for a long time, but since there is a rhyming quality to the “app gap”, chances are we will be hearing more about it in the media.

Microsoft and Best Buy Team to Offer Computer Training

A group of American companies led by Microsoft will offer free computer training to members of disadvantaged communities so they can compete in the global economy and benefit from a high-speed Internet project spearheaded by the Federal Communications Commission. Microsoft will provide basic computer literacy training, including how to do online job searches, in schools and libraries, and through service groups like Boys and Girls clubs and at Microsoft stores nationwide in 20 U.S. states. Only 68 percent of Americans with access to high-speed broadband Internet are using it, while in places like South Korea, the rate is 90 percent.

Hope for the Digitally Distant

The FCC late last year did a phone survey of 5,000 Americans and they now estimate that 93 million Americans are not yet on the high-speed Web train. That lack of “digital relevance” many feel is holding this country back and is one of the reasons the agency will be pushing for a new broadband access strategy that will be publicly unveiled on March 17. And why are so many people still offline? Well here are the FCC survey categories of those who do not yet have broadband according to an article called FCC Aims to Haul Digital Have-Nots Across the Divide. Obviously there is a lot of work left to be done to create digital equal access in this country:

• Near Converts (30 percent of non-adopters) are the closest to making the leap -- they own computers and aren't intimidated by the Web but simply can't afford the cost. Their median age is 45.
• Digital Hopefuls (22 percent) wouldn't mind being online but don't own a computer, can't afford broadband and aren't confident in their digital skills. Nearly half of this category cites affordability as their main obstacle; most in this group make up the so-called "digital divide," populated mostly by African-Americans and Latinos.
• Digitally Uncomfortable (20 percent) can afford computers and access, but aren't sold yet on the idea of being online as a good thing for their lives. They wonder what relevance high-speed access brings them, so they haven't developed the skills to navigate the Web.
• Digitally Distant (28 percent) have the most negative attitudes of all the groups towards the Internet. They see it as a threat to kids and don't grasp its educational opportunities. Most are retired Americans with a median age of 63.