Digital Divide/Equity

“The digital divide generally describes the disparity that exists among individuals and communities around the world with varying degrees of access to digitally mediated information and communication technologies (ICTs) and ability to benefit from digital resources”(Pazurek & Feyissa, 2015). “Digital Equity ensures all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy. Digital Equity is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services” (The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, (Links to an external site.) 2016). These two terms are vastly different in definition, however very similar when you really think about them. To me digital divide means the divide between people are their competence when it comes to the digital/social media world. Digital equity, in my own words means everyone has equal and ample opportunity to participate and interact on the digital platform and through social media. The issues are very similar/related in my eyes because they both describe the gap between people in the digital world and how it needs to be shrunk to make it so everyone has an opportunity to participate in the digital world. We are a long way from this reality because of people’s ability to access these platforms but in an ideal world, everyone would have the ability to interact and learn through the digital world and fully understand what is going on. “Widening levels of education seem to magnify the digital divide; households with higher levels of education are increasingly more likely to use computers and the Internet”(Roberts/Stanford) A student at Stanford wrote about the digital divide and how income and education play a big role in the digital divide. Peoples lack of education directly correlates with their ability to be active in the digital world, families with lower education tend to have a lower income, therefore having less opportunity to participate in the digital world. “Digital equity refers to whether people can access and effectively use the technology necessary to participate in modern society”(Quaintance, 2018). Both terms are related to whether someone has ample access to technology, without that, they have no chance.