If you are reading this consider yourself lucky.
Not because of how amazing this blog post will be - although that is slightly true - but instead because you have access to the Internet. The Internet has become such a simple and typical thing for many Americans. It’s just something at the fingertips of many Americans.
Take a minute to think about your life without Internet access. No more Facebook. No more Twitter. No more blogging.
Have you ever applied for a job online? Have you ever sent an email for work? Have you ever fill out government documents online? Have you ever taken a class online?
Everyday our society becomes more and more emerged in online transactions. Our whole lives are slowly going online. It’s also not just our personal lives, through Facebook and Twitter; the whole world is going online. Business, education and government are moving all activities to the Internet world.
So what happens if you do not have access to the Internet? What happens when you do not know how to properly use the Internet?
Those without Internet access and the proper education to use the Internet, are being left behind.
This is something for businesses to keep in mind when they are moving to social media. Will companies be losing their marketing toward a certain audience? Are those audience members important to the business?
Businesses need to remember the digital divide when stepping into the world of social media. Although it is beneficial for most organizations and companies to go online, some may not have the proper audience to do so. Companies need to ask themselves - go socially online or to no go socially online?
This “left behind” effect poses a problem when it comes to education. According to an article in The Daily Beast, in 2009 Program for International Student Assessment, U.S. Students ranked 14th in reading and 25th in math compared with students in other industrialized countries. The United States cannot risk slipping even further down the ladder.
If the United States fails to educate their students, including educating them on 21st century technology the gap with widen. This digital divide does not just effect who has access to the Internet and who does not, it is a lot deeper than that. This divide could create a threat to the economic growth and national security in our country.
The digital divide is an issue that affects many aspects of society and the future of many generations. The issue needs to be discussed and steps need to be made in order to close the gap.
By Katherine Brock
