BUS 620

Research Abstract Five

“Digital Divide”

What is the Digital Divide?

Defined: The “Digital Divide” is usually defined as the gap in technology ownership and access between those who are affluent, and those who are poor, or live in rural areas with limited or no access to the Internet. This ownership and access can depend primarily on three factors: race, geography and economic status.

U.S. Department of Commerce Revealed Some Interesting Facts As Noted Below:

The divide between those with access to new technologies and those without is now one of America's leading economic and civil rights issues.

· Information tools, such as the personal computer and the Internet, are increasingly critical to economic success and personal advancement

· More Americans than ever have access to telephones, computers, and the Internet

· There is still a significant "digital divide" separating American information "haves" and "have nots."

· The digital divide has widened in the last year

U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau data shows:

· Access to computers and the Internet has soared for people in all demographic groups and geographic locations

· At the end of 1998, over 40 percent of American households owned computers

· One-quarter of all households had Internet access

· Those less likely to have telephones were young and minority households in rural areas

Persistence of the digital divide continues between the information rich (such as Whites, Asians/Pacific Islanders, those with higher incomes, those more educated, and dual-parent households) versus;

The information poor (such as those who are younger, those with lower incomes and education levels, certain minorities, and those in rural areas or central cities).

Data revealed significant disparities, including the following:

• Urban households with incomes of $75,000 and higher are more than twenty times more likely to have access to the Internet than rural households at the lowest income levels, and more than nine times as likely to have a computer at home
• Whites are more likely to have access to the Internet from home than Blacks or Hispanics have from any location
• Black and Hispanic households are approximately one-third as likely to have home Internet access as households of Asian/Pacific Islander descent, and roughly two-fifths as likely as White households
• Regardless of income level, Americans living in rural areas are lagging behind in Internet access
• The lowest income levels, those in urban areas are more than twice as likely to have Internet access than those earning the same income in rural areas

For many groups, the digital divide has widened as the information "haves" outpace the "have nots" in gaining access to electronic resources. The following gaps with regard to home Internet access are representative:

• The gaps between White and Hispanic households, and between White and Black households, are now approximately five percentage points larger than they were in 1997
• The digital divides based on education and income level have also increased in the last year alone
• Between 1997 and 1998, the divide between those at the highest and lowest education levels increased 25 percent
• and the divide between those at the highest and lowest income levels grew 29 percent

U.S. Internet use varies with different races as shown below on the graph

Are Businesses Concerned Over The Digital Divide?

On The Bright Side

Nevertheless, the news is not all bleak. For Americans with incomes of $75,000 and higher, the divide between Whites and Blacks has actually narrowed considerably in the last year. This finding suggests that the most affluent American families, irrespective of race, are connecting to the Net. If prices of computers and the Internet decline further, the divide between the information "haves" and "have nots" may continue to narrow.