Define the digital divide and explain why it is important to understand issues of access. Make sure you describe who is online and who is not, and reasons why people are not online

Be sure to define and incorporate cultural capital, technocapital, and diffusion of innovations into your response.

What will be an ideal response?

The digital divide refers to the inequity of access between the technology "haves" and "have nots." That is, some people have access to computers and the Internet and some don't. In our country, those who are online tend to be young or middle age, are students or have a college degree, have comfortable incomes. Around the world, people in less developed countries, such as India and Nigeria, tend to have less access to computers and the Internet. The digital divide is important as we assume that because we have access, others do, too, when this is not the case. Also, a lot of our cultural capital, or our knowledge and competence that helps us to function in society, is tied to our access. People have less cultural capital if they do not have access to computers and Internet. Thus, not having access makes it harder for some people to succeed in a society that privileges access.

There are a variety of reasons why people are not online. First, some people cannot afford computers or the Internet. Also, some people lack the skills, or technocapital, to use computers. Last, some are not online because they do not think computers are useful to their lives. Diffusion of innovations suggests that in order for people to accept a new technology like a computer, they have to see it as useful and compatible with their values and lifestyles. Specifically, if computers are valuable to a person's loved ones, he/she is most likely to use computers as well.