The Digital Divide

What is the "digital divide"?

• An uneven distribution in access to computing devices and the Internet.

• A concept to describe the increasing animosity between different political groups on the internet.

• A way to divide mathematically digitally.

Which of the following best illustrates inequity caused by the digital divide?

• After a presidential election debate, one of the candidates has more articles written about them online than the other candidates.

• A student is unable to watch an educational video because the youtube.com web servers suffer a worldwide outage that day.

• A community college student does their homework in the waiting room of a local hospital because they don't have Wi-Fi at home.

• A school institutes a policy that does not allow students to use their cell phones during class time.

In 2019, the Pew Research Center surveyed Americans about their household's access to computers and the Internet.

The chart above shows the percentage who reported having access to a broadband Internet connection from 2000 - 2019, categorized as either "urban", "suburban", or "rural":

Which of these would be the most effective way for the American government to reduce the digital divide demonstrated above, between rural households and suburban/urban households?

• A partnership with an Internet carrier to install broadband Internet infrastructure in rural areas and provide household access at discounted rates.

• Government-subsidized computer training classes in all communities.

• Discounted rates for school districts to install high speed Internet connections.

• A partnership with an Internet Service Provider to offer Internet access to low-income households at discounted rates.