19/10/16 - A New Digital Divide Has Emerged — and Conventional Solutions Won’t Bridge the Gap

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/10/14/a-new-digital-divide-has-emerged-and-conventional-solutions-wont-bridge-the-gap/

The article suggests that, particularly in the US, a new digital divide has been created. 13 percent of Americans do not use the internet. Originally efforts have been made to make sure it was affordable which was once the main issue for the divide. Internet Providers such as Comcast and AT&T have created programmes where low income families can have internet for roughly 10 dollars a month. However in terms of the older generations not using the internet, it's not because they can't access it many say that they wouldn't use it even if it was free. Furthermore a report from the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration highlights that over half of those whose don't have the internet say they don't actually want it or need it.

O According to the Pew Research Centre: 13 percent of Americans don't use the internet.
O Over 40 percent of seniors are offline.
O only 1 percent of millennial are offline.
O A report from the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration highlights that over half of those whose don't have the internet say they don't actually want it or need it.

I do agree that 'Conventional solutions won't bridge the gap' however there isn't a real solution. Older generations have lived most of their lives without the internet, many don't and won't be able to understand. You cannot force people into doing something they don't want to. Rather than this just being a digital divide, it is simply a generational divide. Efforts to reduce the divide aren't particular efforts because the real divide is between MEDC's and LEDC's. There are people who cannot have access to new and digital media, some wouldn't have even heard of the things that we use on a daily basis and take for granted.