Most would know not of the digital divide, and that it surrounds us everywhere we go, and we barely notice it. “What is digital divide?” you say? Well let me just go ahead and tell you before you wreck your brains trying to decipher the meaning using your own self-knowledge. Digital Divide is the rivalry between the fact of people with access to the internet and technology vs the people who do not have any of this access at all. Digital Divide then separates into a further three sub-sections that make it up as a whole, and these are the Socio-economic divide, Infrastructure, and Digital divide in content.
Now to better understand the meaning behind Digital Divide one would take into context a real life scenario, and so i took a look at the different sub-sections of Digital Divide within my neighbourhood, Linden. Socio-economic divide, the divide between developed countries or areas and the undeveloped/underdeveloped countries and areas. Within the Linden area is much like that of any other ‘normal’ neighbourhood. Majority of the people who live within Linden are actually within the middle class of the economy, with both few selected higher class goers and the occasional lower class being seen around the neighbourhood. Infrastructure, the basic physical and organisational structures and facilities, is fairly decent in the area. Electrical issues, otherwise known as load-shedding, tends to miss this area. Most times the connectivity is running at full pace, although due to the high amount of users an lack of telecommunication channels, connectivity speed and processing slacks, providing those with access a somewhat delayed and unresponsive access at that. Finally Digital divide in content, which is simply your access to information. In Linden access to information is fairly easy as nearly each shop contains a website with contact details, and those with availability to this internet and technological access would be able to find information easily and very simply
Its easy to see how we can about our whole lives never taking notice of the Digital Divide that sounds us each and every day. Where ever we may be or end up, if we take a look a look around, you will see the effects of Digital Divide, seeing the many with no access of any kind to technology and the world.
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