The New Digital Divide

Inspired by our readings on the collegiate digital divide, I looked for articles about how the digital divide has changed in recent years. I came across an article in the New York Times called Wasting Time is New Divide in Digital Era, which discusses how the digital divide has changed as technology becomes more ubiquitous. The author, Matt Richtel, writes about how lower income students have access to technology, but are not equipped to use it to their advantage. Parents don't know how to keep their teens focused on productive uses of technology, which means they fall further behind in school. The article raises new questions about digital literacy. Digital literacy has become more than understanding how technology works, it is not knowing how to use the resources. However, like many of the articles we read for class, Richtel makes the point that the problems with digital divide are reflective of larger social inequalities.