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Topic: After conducting independent research using at least three sources not used in the class, write an essay that determines if there is a “Digital Divide” nationally and globally. If so, what can be done to close the gap, if anything?
Digital Divide
The internet has not only become the tool of information transfer but also a channel for globalization. The technological development in the world has affected the levels of economical capabilities of countries creating digital divide. The digital divide can be defined as a cross-national or global difference in Information Technology resources and capabilities. However, the IT resources tend to concentrate more in Western, European, and affluent countries while the other countries lag behind. The differences in the IT resources confirm that the global digital divide exist as nations with high IT resources are more advanced economically and socially compared to those with low IT resources. This paper determines the existence of digital divided in the United States and globally. It also provides mechanisms that can be put in place to close the digital divide gap both nationally and globally.
In the United States, technology is becoming more useful in everyday life. However, digital divide problem faces the nation as some citizens are left behind affecting their daily lives. The digital divide in the nation cuts across all demographics both in urban and rural areas. Several research materials have indicated that more than 60 million Americans cannot comfortably access the internet especially the minority and low-income earners. With major part of life in the nation having migrated to online, the affected population finds it hard to access services including education and employment (Aguh, 2018). The other notable digital divide in the United States is the differences in the access to high-speed broadband at homes. The homes that are likely to have low broadband or no internet access are those of adults that have less than high school education and households that their yearly earning is less than $30,000 (Globalization101, 2017). The main causes of digital divide in the United States include lack of funds by other citizens to access the internet or buy devices that can access the internet. It is also noted that rural locations in the nation limit access to high-speed broadband which affects the opportunities such online shopping, education and banking in those areas.
There are several ways that the United States can close the digital gap that exists. The first way is by redirecting federal funding distribution to rural areas to help in the investment of new broadband infrastructure and improve the current infrastructure. The funds can also support mid-sized telcos in providing ISPs that can be used in rural and sub-urban markets in enhancing internet access to each individual across the nation. Another way to close the digital gap in the nation is by opening the airwaves and fairly. The bandwidth delivery should be allocated to companies that have public’s best interest that can avail wireless spectrum at the highest speed to every home (Ditchfield, 2018). The nation can also adopt a technology-agnostic hybrid approach rather than using the fiber optic networks. With the technology-agnostic hybrid networks, the nation would be able to close the divide since they provide a timely process. The approach involves moving from fiber, to fixed wireless, to 4G and 5G LTE technologies that have the ability to provide gigabit and multi-gigabit across the nation.
Despite an indication of people online increasing globally from 14.5% in 2008 to 45.3% in 2018, the digital divide problem still remains a challenge. The estimated 3.8 billion people in the world are considered to lack access to a fast and reliable internet. For instance, according to the Facebook connectivity index and survey; low income countries are still struggling in the growth progress of internet connectivity (Facebook, 2019). The survey also provide that the mobile internet services globally have improved, but low-income and low-middle-income countries experience a slow progress due to economic capabilities. The other way that indicates the existence of digital divide globally is the differences in the internet usage of developed countries and developing countries. The developed countries across the globe have a higher broadband growth rate due to high competition and declining prices (Hodgson, 2007). However, the developing countries tend to have difficulties in improving and adding new broadband infrastructure since the processes are much costly than what the countries can afford economically. The digital divide globally can also be justified with the gap that exists between the broadband internet accesses. Developed countries hold more than 70% of broadband subscribers while developing countries share nearly a quarter of the subscribers.
There are some measures that can be applied to ensure that the digital divide gap globally is reduced or closed. One of the measures is to eradicate illiteracy. The number of adults and youths in the world that still cannot write or read simple sentence is still high, which makes it clear that such people have lowest chances of using the internet. Governments and NGOs such as U.N should increase their funding in the education system which in turn can help in improving the literate levels that are essential for internet usage. Since most rural areas across the globe tend to be the most affected by the digital divide, countries can apply power lines (PLT and PLC) and satellite communications, which are able to provide access to the internet in new ways.
References
Aguh, C. (2018, February 10). How the ‘digital divide’ is holding the U.S. economy back. Venture Beat. Retrieved from https://venturebeat.com/2018/02/10/how-the-digital-divide-is-holding-the-u-s-economy-back/
Ditchfield, S. (2018). Five Crucial Steps Needed To Close The U.S. Digital Divide. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeslacouncil/2018/07/18/five-crucial-steps-needed-to-close-the-u-s-digital-divide/#7ecc7ea83635
Facebook. (2019, February 25). Progress Stalling on Closing the Digital Divide: Insights From the 2019 Inclusive Internet Index. Retrieved from https://connectivity.fb.com/news/progress-stalling-on-closing-the-digital-divide-insights-from-the-2019-inclusive-internet-index/
Globalization101. (2017). Digital Divides in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.globalization101.org/digital-divides-in-the-united-states/
Hodgson. (2007). The global digital divide. Euromonitor International. Retrieved from https://blog.euromonitor.com/the-global-digital-divide/
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