Digital Divide

A Problem Emerges

In 1995, the NTIA released the first high-profile examination of Internet access disparity, titled Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the “Have Nots” in Urban and Rural America. The study found that the poorest households in rural and central city locations had the least access to the Internet. With regard to race, rural Native American households scored the lowest in connectivity, with rural Black, central city Black, and central city Latino households also having lower levels of access relative to other groups.

To include minority populations in online activity, state-sponsored programs focused on increasing public access in schools and libraries. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, by 2003 Internet access reached nearly 100% for public schools in the United States. Access via education, coupled with increased prevalence of Internet terminals in public libraries, led some people to consider the digital divide closed, whereas others argued that the digital divide should be measured by more comprehensive means than mere access.

Defining Access

Typically, the phrase digital divide refers to Internet access, but it can also apply to the accessibility of technology such as portable media players, gaming consoles, personal digital assistants, satellite television, and cell phones. Relative to Internet connectivity, however, the increasing rate of broadband access is cited as evidence that previous conceptions of the digital divide might be outmoded. The NTIA report from 2004, “A Nation Online: Entering the Broadband Age,” found increases in Internet access for all racial groups in both urban and rural areas, yet the data reveal persistent inequality in household connectivity for both dial-up and broadband.

According to the 2004 NTIA report, White households have the highest percentage of some type of Internet connectivity at 65.1%. Asian American households closely follow at 63.1%, whereas 45.6% of Black households and 37.2% of Latino households reported access. Native American households were not included in the report. The disparity between racial groups increases when one looks at dial-up versus broadband levels of access. Asian American households have the highest level of broadband access at 34.2%. White households have 25.7% broadband access, followed by Black households at 14.2% and 12.6% for Latino households. Therefore, members of some racial groups are less likely to have household access and are less likely to have faster connections.

Although many people use the Internet to build community, finding culturally relevant content can be difficult for some racial and ethnic groups. The predominance of English on the World Wide Web marginalizes some minority voices and challenges the accessibility of the Internet, regardless of the prevalence of public access points. Some argue that [Page 389]increased attention to computer literacy programs for low-income and minority populations is a crucial part of addressing the content disparity. This belief stems from the fact that if people do not have the skills to engage in online activity, interventions to improve access are largely ineffective.

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