Digital divide and its social influences (Literature Review Pt. 1)

We live in the best age of information-accessibility: More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years; more Facebook profiles are created every second than there are people born; members of LinkedIn come from more than 200 countries and represent every continent (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2013). Nowadays, more information is accessible today than any other time in history, but not to those without to access to the Internet. Living in an unjust world, there have always been ‘have’ and ‘have-nots’. Just as educational crusaders celebrate the success made in closing the literacy gap, one emerging divide is growing faster than most before it – the digital divide (Witte and Mannon, 2007).

In the literature, researchers have several conceptualizations of how to approach digital divide. As Brock (2005) summarizes that the survey reports the Internet use in the U.S. from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) focus on computer ownership initially and makes the shift to the Internet access. Access to information and resources through Internet and other new technologies has become one of the major perspectives in digital divide studies (Cooper & Kimmelman, 1999; Katz & Rice, 2002). One of the factors that are considered to be important in these conceptualizations is the differential possession of Internet skills (Van Dijk, 2005). In this paper we are focusing on Internet skills and not on other digital skills such as those needed for personal computers, contemporary mobile users, or digital television.

Moreover, scholars have found that, although Internet access and use have increased substantially over the past decade, the increases among some groups have been quicker. (Sparks, 2013) People who are already relatively advantaged -- the young, educated and those with higher status occupations -- have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet at a faster pace than the rest of society. A lot of factors such as education, income and gender have huge impacts on digital divide, however, in this literature review, I’m going to focus on age and examine the its relationship with digital divide.

Brock, A. (2005). “A belief in humanity is a belief in colored men:” Using culture to span the digital divide. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article 17. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/brock.html

Cooper, M., & Kimmelman, G. (1999). The digital divide confronts the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Economic reality versus public policy. Washington, D.C.: Consumer Union

International Association of Chiefs of Police. (2013). Fun facts. Retrieved from     http://www.iacpsocialmedia.org/Resources/FunFacts.aspx

Katz, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2002). Social consequences of internet use: Access, involvement and interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Sparks, C. (2013). What is the "digital divide" and why is it important?. Javnost-The Public, 20(2), 27-46.

University of Leicester (2013, June 3). Education, age and class continue to create a ‘digital divide’. ScienceDaily, Retrieved Devember 4, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2013/06/130603092448.htm

Van Dijk J (2005) The Deepening Divide Inequality in the Information Society. London:  Sage Publications.

Witte J and Mannon S (2007) The Internet and Social Inequalities. New York: Routledge.