Digital Divide Persists in US
Despite all the rhetoric concerning the mainstreaming of the Internet, a report by the US Department of Commerce says you're still more likely to be wired in the US if you're well-educated, wealthy, and white.
Despite all the rhetoric concerning the mainstreaming of the Internet, a report by the US Department of Commerce says you're still more likely to be wired in the US if you're well-educated, wealthy, and white.
More Americans than ever have access to telephones, computers, and the Internet, but a digital divide remains between “haves” and “have nots,” according to a report by the US Department of Commerce.
The report “Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide” found that access to computers and the Internet for Americans in all demographic groups and geographic locations soared at the end of 1998, due in part, to the success of pro-competition policies. More than 40 percent of US households owned computers, one-quarter had Internet access, and 94.1 percent of US households were connected by telephone at the end of 1998.
Despite these findings, the report also found that significant disparities still remain between certain demographic groups and geographic regions. These gaps, according to the report, have recently grown in many cases.
“While we are encouraged by the dramatic growth in the access Americans have to the nation’s information technologies, the growing disparity in access between certain groups and regions is alarming, Commerce Secretary William Daley said.
Some examples from the report:
“America’s digital divide is fast becoming a ‘racial ravine,'” said Larry Irving, assistant secretary of Commerce for Telecommunications. “It is now one of America’s leading economic and civil rights issues and we have to take concrete steps to redress the gap between the information haves and have nots.”
The report is the third on the digital divide issued by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The study is based on data collected by the US Census Bureau from 48,000 households.
Percent of US Households Using the Internet | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Race | Geographic Region | |||
US | Rural | Urban | Central City |
|
White non-Hispanic | 29.8 | 23.7 | 32.4 | 32.3 | Black non-Hispanic | 11.2 | 7.1 | 11.7 | 10.2 | AIEA non-Hispanic | 18.9 | 12.8 | 22.5 | 20.2 | API non-Hispanic | 36.0 | 24.7 | 36.5 | 33.3 | Hispanic | 12.6 | 9.8 | 12.9 | 10.2 |
Source: US Dept. of Commerce |