The real digital divide isn’t about access to the Internet

The “digital divide” commonly refers to the question of who has access to the Internet, but at least when it comes to race and income, that gap is pretty insignificant. Policymakers are too busy bridging a fake divide to notice the real one right under their noses. The real divide is actually in time spent on screens, and there, the gap is enormous. The children at the disadvantage are the ones who have more access to screens, not less. Just as our elites downplayed the importance of marriage for family stability and economic success even while continuing to marry at the same rates, so it seems we have adopted a double standard for screen time. For their own kids, they have realized the problems and are cutting back on media usage. For the rest of the country’s children, well, they can’t wait to give them more.

[Naomi Schaefer Riley is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a contributing editor at the Institute for Family Studies]