What is the new digital divide?

Internet and the business world

The new digital divide is a very common and very serious issue in America. The common thought of a division between a group is most commonly thought of as a race issue or a religion issue. This divide is that from the privileged who have access to the internet and those less fortunate who do not. With the world growing at such a rapid rate the internet and access to the internet becomes vitally important. People with the ability and the knowledge of the internet are rapidly moving up in the business world.


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some stats

In the year 2000 almost 60% of all people had some kind of access to the internet, let it be from home work or library. This statistic grew near 25% in the previous two years. The rapid growth shows the very importance of the internet in America. The gap between the urban and suburban homes with internet access is narrowing but there is still a strong gap. Just over 50% of homes had internet access in the year 2000.

Most of the people who don’t have the access to the internet are that ofminorities.  This graph shows the difference in access to the internet in gender and race. Some commonly over looked groups who don’t have the access to the internet are the handicap and the elderly. 60% of Americans with disabilities have never used a personal computer and are only half as likely to use the internet as the regular person. The elderly, who didn’t grow up with computers are less likely to pick up the trend and don’t have the computer skills as most young adults do.


look at pbs.org to learn more




learn more from the Digital Divide Network