Back when I was writing academic articles about the politics of technology, the digital divide was a big topic. The argument was that only privileged groups had access to the Internet. This access gave privileged groups certain advantages that helped maintain their privilege. Honestly, I have not read a good digital divide article in a while, so I thought the problem was growing smaller. Think again.
According to the New York Times, 20 percent of Americans or 60 million people do not use the Internet at home, at work, or on a cellphone, despite a $7 billion effort by the Obama administration to increase access. The biggest losers are the elderly, minorities, and Southerners. This lack of digital experience limits employment opportunities.
What should be done?
Apt. 11d 
Add in people/families/kids who are in more rural areas and are dependent upon dial-up rather than a digital line. That means no youtube, super slow photo downloading, no netflix, no instagram, no online courses etc. So even if a location has access, the access may be so slow that it might as well be non-existent.
What should be done? Internet access should be treated like access to libraries or transportation or healthcare or education.
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I’m more concerned with what people do with the internet than with whether or not they’ve got it.
Earlier this week, I was reading about the case of a 17-year-old Maine mother who is in hot water with CPS because, scared to death over GMO in commercial formula, she decided to feed her newborn a homemade mixture of goat’s milk, celery juice, and supplements. Would she have gotten that bright idea without the internet? Probably not.
http://foodfreedomgroup.com/2013/08/10/maine-threatens-to-take-baby-over-homemade-goat-milk-formula/
http://weeklypacket.com/news/2013/aug/15/feeding-goat-milk-to-infant-lands-brooklin-woman-i/#.UhLQuNI3seA
“So Gellerson told the WIC staff she was feeding Carson goat milk supplemented with liquid infant multivitamins, probiotic powder and other natural ingredients from a recipe Allen had researched online.
Soon after—and after Gellerson didn’t return phone calls from her MaineCare doctor, Tasha Hoffman—DHHS worker Christie Leighton showed up at Gellerson’s door.”
“Gellerson hadn’t returned Dr. Hoffman’s phone calls because Hoffman was pressuring vaccinations for Carson, which Gellerson was against, and wanted Gellerson to bring him in for frequent checkups.”
Elsewhere, in more conventional parts of the internet, I saw today that Slate is hosting an anti-bedrest piece.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/expecting_better/2013/08/19/bed_rest_during_pregnancy_doctor_s_orders_to_curb_premature_labor_but_there.html
There is a case against bedrest in certain cases, but the quote Oster gives that says, “There are no complications of pregnancy for which there are demonstrated benefits of bed rest” is way too categorical. The comments are very interesting, as there are plenty of them pointing out all the stuff that the author of this very irresponsible piece didn’t know or didn’t bother to include (namely, that there are lots of other indications for bedrest other than preterm labor and other possible physical restrictions). It’s one thing when Slate goes all contrarian about kitchen layout, but this is a very serious issue the piece is thinly sourced, and they should probably pull it.
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AmyP, I have been flabbergasted by the crazy and dangerous stuff even highly educated people believe when they read it on the Internet.
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“AmyP, I have been flabbergasted by the crazy and dangerous stuff even highly educated people believe when they read it on the Internet.”
I recently realized what a close call I had a number of years back. I had read online (on Lileks?) about zinc lozenges as a method for treating colds and I bought a pack or two. Only now, after having read about how you can lose your sense of smell permanently from zinc, did I realize what a risky thing that was to do, but I had no idea at the time. It seemed a perfectly reasonable thing to do at the time. Zinc is an important mineral and it’s in vitamins, right?
I’ve gotten to be a habituee of the Skeptical OB’s blog over the past year or so, and one of the things I’ve learned from her blog and her commentors is to beware of people who talk about being “educated” about something, be it vaccinations or formula or childbirth. The thing is, nobody who is a real expert in any of these areas goes around calling themselves “educated.”
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Chicago has a program called EveryoneOn that’s directly attempting to ensure internet access to all residents. I know about this because they were handing out fliers and free thumb drives at the park a few weeks ago.
http://www.everyoneon.org/chicago-to-be-test-city-in-push-for-wider-cheaper-internet/
Also, Chicago’s library system has been vastly transformed by the internet. At my local library the racks and reading areas in about a quarter of the building have been removed and replaced with 100+ computers that can be reserved by the hour. It’s always hopping there. I find it the grandest of ironies that these librarians now spend most of their time helping people print, etc. (And don’t ask what’s happened to the stacks at this library – the ones that remain are a disaster, as so much energy is going into the computers.)
As for the rural question, I tend to think smartphones will help this. The case study of Latinos is interesting in this regard. Latinos are a population that traditionally lagged in internet usage – until the advent of smartphones. These days they’ve closed the gap for internet usage when compared to other minority populations.
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/03/07/closing-the-digital-divide-latinos-and-technology-adoption/
It’s certainly true that people need to learn how to use all this new information, especially when the sources are untrustworthy. But that’s no different from people learning not to trust the wacky guy next door. Just a difference of scale.
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One more comment here – if you’re still not using the internet in 2013, IMO there’s a good chance you’ve participated in that decision. There is a hard core of people out there who have been trying for years to avoid computer usage. The 70-year-old former trucker mentioned in the NYTimes piece – do we really believe this guy has never tried to use a computer? More likely he tried but had significant barriers and just decided to try and avoid it, thinking “I’m a trucker, I can get away with not learning this.” I’ve seen this before numerous times, especially for people with marginal literacy and no typing skills. If you’re a man born in 1943, there’s a really strong chance you never learned to type.
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There may be a trade-off between internet usage and community ties. Every minute you spend on the internet is a minute you’re not interacting with people in real world.
I think there’s some correlation with the recent study on income mobility: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/business/in-climbing-income-ladder-location-matters.html?pagewanted=all
The map at the NYT resembles this map: http://maps.unomaha.edu/Peterson/geog1000/MapLinks/ReligionMaps.html.
According to the US census, the South is growing, while the Lutheran area is stable or shrinking. http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-01.pdf
Are Baptists more likely to be tied to their communities, less likely to use the internet, and less likely to move house to get ahead? Conversely, are Lutherans more likely to move, more likely to use the internet, and less likely to remain in their home town?
In other words, is it that people from the south fall behind in the race, or do many of them have different values which don’t align with the formula for getting ahead? Is this an economic question, or a question about the value one places on money/advancement vs. ties to family, community and church?
I don’t think anyone from my graduating high school class chose to remain in my home town. I don’t expect my children to return here after college. Is that normal? Or is that normal for the suburban Northeast, but would be seen as wrong in other parts of the country?
In other words, what would those who don’t have internet access have to trade away to increase internet usage? More online gaming vs. fewer church suppers? Do they want to make that trade?
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It kind of reminds me of those women in the 1950’s who never learned how to drive — Instead they became dependent on others to drive them everywhere. My MIL has never used the internet — but she has her children perform tasks for her on the internet — like buying her plane tickets, purchasing things, etc. I think it’s easier to be a technophobe if there are others willing to enable you in that way. I’d suspect that a fair number of those who never use the internet fall into that category.
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Jen said:
“But that’s no different from people learning not to trust the wacky guy next door. Just a difference of scale.”
Unfortunately, the internet is very self-reinforcing. It can give the equivalent of super-powers to smart people, while making ignorant people more ignorant than they were to begin with. If I google something like “natural cancer cure” or “is homebirth safe” or “homemade formula” (and I just did all of those searches) that is going to shape the quality of the information that comes back to me. It’s very garbage in, garbage out.
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Jen said:
“One more comment here – if you’re still not using the internet in 2013, IMO there’s a good chance you’ve participated in that decision. There is a hard core of people out there who have been trying for years to avoid computer usage.”
Very true. My parents are 1) very financially comfortable rural 60-somethings and 2) almost completely computer illiterate. Their most recent technological breakthrough was getting cable or direct TV or whatever for my mom’s convalescence from surgery a few years back. Previously, they had their choice of fuzzy Portland TV or fuzzy Canadian TV, generally one at a time (when I was a kid, we often had our choice of either sound or picture on the TV). Living in a northern state with long winters, they are really enjoying the heck out of their TV on tap. They had a computer for a long time that they didn’t do anything with because they were afraid of discombobulating it. (I understand–I have similar concerns with electronic devices, but since I have an in-home techie husband, I’m confident that he can always recombobulate whatever I discombobulate.) Whenever my dad needs some internet research done, he has his siblings (who are much more savvy) take care of it for him. I think my sister does plane ticket purchases for them. At my dad’s college teaching job, the staff takes care of a lot of stuff that I’m sure other teachers do themselves, because my dad’s math teaching skill set is so uncommon in our community–lots of people can do stuff on the computer, but almost nobody else can teach college math. Similarly, I don’t think their being non-internet people hurts their business at all. My grandparents are similarly not computer people, and they have kids to take care of stuff for them. I’m glad my mom isn’t on the internet–I think she would probably be a menace if she were doing health care googling.
Conversely, I know from talking to my sister that Facebook is TERRIBLE for small town life. Small town life requires a lot of self-restraint and keeping your lips zipped (because you are going to be dealing with this small pool of people for the rest of your life), and Facebook contributes to a lot of feuding and bad feeling that wouldn’t otherwise have happened. From all the stories I’ve heard, it seems like Facebook has the potential for creating anti-social capital, destroying social and familial connections and opportunities that would otherwise have existed.
I really don’t get the feeling of there being a big digital divide. And if you don’t believe me, have a good look at Youtube comments or the comments on local news stories.
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“Facebook contributes to a lot of feuding and bad feeling that wouldn’t otherwise have happened”
My reason for hoping my 12yo keeps saying she doesn’t want Facebook ’til HS (I’m not going to impose this on her, but I hope that’s the decision she makes). Small towns with no escape have their own issues of needing restraint. But middle school seems like a small town amplified with adolescent brains. I mean what middle schooler can handler knowing all the parties she’s not invited to? And I’m guessing the same problem arises in a small town.
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“But middle school seems like a small town amplified with adolescent brains.”
Exactly. And middle school is even worse, because you have to see everybody practically every day during the school year, whereas in a small town, you can take longer breaks.
“I mean what middle schooler can handler knowing all the parties she’s not invited to? And I’m guessing the same problem arises in a small town.”
I wasn’t even thinking of that, but yes. I don’t do Facebook or social media generally, but I’ve heard about the unpleasantness of this, with all the outsiders with their noses pressed against the virtual window, seeing the insiders’ perfect parties, perfect vacations, perfect families, etc.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/instagram_and_self_esteem_why_the_photo_sharing_network_is_even_more_depressing.html
“The Human–Computer Institute at Carnegie Mellon has found that your “passive consumption” of your friends’ feeds and your own “broadcasts to wider audiences” on Facebook correlate with feelings of loneliness and even depression. Earlier this year, two German universities showed that “passive following” on Facebook triggers states of envy and resentment in many users, with vacation photos standing out as a prime trigger.”
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I don’t think teenagers are using Facebook anymore, so no need to worry about that, bj. Facebook is for old people
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For me it’s so much this social media or that, it’s more about basic internet functions that are woven into our day-to-day lives that are not possible for some people even if they have internet access (forgot above to mention e-readers too – not practical without high speed internet).
Of course many elderly will not be comfortable with using the ‘net – there most likely will be technologies that we will avoid as we age (hopefully not!).
The divide is as much within a generation as it is between generations.
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It’s all snapchat.
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Maybe at this point, the digital divide has a lot to do with how you manage the internet, rather than whether you deal with it at all. Here are two paraphrased Facebook quotes from my cousin and his third wife (the cousin is slightly younger than me–he’s been a busy boy).
Third Wife: I can’t stand it when my husband tells me how stupid I am!
Cousin (either before that or after–not sure which): I have the best wife in the whole world!
I didn’t see this myself, but I heard about it from a Facebooking relative. TMI, people, TMI!
Then there’s a pair of feuding sisters-in-law in my home town, one of whom is immature beyond her years, has put dozens of harassing and abusive comments up on Facebook for her 200 best friends in town, and seems to regard Facebook as being as intimate a venue as a locked diary.
Oh, and then there’s the young woman who is really, really lucky that her employers don’t do Facebook.
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