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One of our reporters received a call a couple of weeks ago from a concerned reader who said she felt discriminated against. She was upset because we were offering extra content online that she was unable to get to.
I shrugged it off and moved on. That was until I read the following headline.
The headline read, "20% of U.S. Has Never Sent E-mail."
I thought to myself that this must surely be a typo. Either that or someone is definitely using some fuzzy numbers. The rest of the read made me wonder if the internet really has completely taken over our culture in the U.S.
The article stated that the research firm, Parks Associates, did a phone interview where they found that around one-fifth of all U.S. households had never used e-mail. I still gave it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe with texting and instant messaging people just weren't using e-mail as much as they use to.
But another survey by Parks found that 20 million households had no internet access period. That's nearly 18 percent of all U.S. households.
"Nearly one out of three household heads has never used a computer to create a document," said John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, in a statement. "These data underscore the significant digital divide between the connected majority and the homes in the unconnected minority that rarely, if ever, use a computer."
It has to be noted that seven percent of the 18 percent were all over 65.
This clearly shows the divide between two generations. One generation that sees no reason to include technology in their lives and another that wants it to be used in every aspect.
As a web designer, I personally believe that those who choose to live their lives like computers were never invented will eventually be passed by those who embrace it and run with it.
If you don't have the internet, go to the library (they offer it FREE). If you don't understand the internet, ask an 8-year-old. They'll probably be able to explain it better than anyone else.
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I find some of your comments seem to be condescending. Your last two paragraphs seem to have that tone. It could be just me but the comments in your article you write about the comments in the article you read seem to be negative. Does anyone agree with me?
Posted by rickygipson on May 21, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)I apologize if any of my comments came across as condescending. They were not intended to be. My comments were geared to show that I believe everyone should at least know something about using a computer. I believe we've gotten to a point in our culture where if you don't know how to use the technology that's available then there's a good chance you will get left behind in a world that's embracing it.
-Ricky Gipson
Posted by affectingly on June 6, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)The interesting thing here is you writing about (to?) people not using the internet *on the internet*. On an internet blog, no less, which despite what any internet savvy geek will tell you, is not the central focus of everyone's interent experience.
Though I will agree with your main point, people resistant to the internet/computer culture need to get with the program. However, I think you're overlooking that aside from the 7% who are 65 or older, many of those people don't lack the interest in what the rest of us are doing, they lack the resources. People who haunt the well-tread terrains of google, del.icio.us, digg it, and facebook tend to be from middle class, suburban socioeconomic backgrounds. It's not just an age divide, it's a class divide. And granted, they can go to their local library to surf as you pointed out, but even then they're not going to develop the same level of comfort as someone like you or I have.
Posted by heritage on June 7, 2008 at 8:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)ditto affect...... the economic segregation continues. i hate to say that i have developed a marketing strategy in some of our rental properties. advertising on sites such as craig's list cuts down on the "do you take housing?', "i want to rent a two bedroom home and i have six children", and will you take less money" calls which are a tidal wave when reaching out in the newspaper. sad, but true.
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