Technology and the new Class Divide

[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Paul Lamb, Community Technology Foundation of California]
[Commentary] Although Americans have quickly adopted computer and Internet technology, the Digital Divide still exists. Children from higher income families (annual income of more than $75,000) are twice as likely to have access to a computer at home as those in very low income families (annual income of $15,000 or less). For Internet access the figures are 93 percent for upper income families versus 29 percent for lower income families, and 51 percent for broadband access versus 7 percent. The truth is that the promise of a digital utopia where all are more or less equal has not yet come to pass. More broadly, income disparities in the United States are greater than they have been in 30 years, and some suggest that income inequality is growing to levels not seen since the 1880s. Recent studies have also suggested that social mobility is stagnating and possibly even reversing. That means very few people are moving out of the class they were born into. Despite all our technology gains, it appears that class gaps are widening. Could it be that technology is actually exacerbating the class divide rather than helping to address it? Lamb sets out some goals: 1) Bringing every community online by 2010. 2) Establishing standards for digital literacy and offering curricula for technology training from public preschool all the way through public college, and in the workplace. 3) Launching a dialogue between communities, business and government to help forge appropriate short- and long-term community technology policies. 4) Establishing digital empowerment zones. DEZs would offer tax and other incentives for the establishment of tech businesses, innovation centers and next-generation broadband access services outside of traditional high-tech sectors and already well-connected communities.
http://news.com.com/Technology+and+the+new+class+divide/2010-1028_3-5924...