Digital Divide

How to deal with the world's greatest consumer product offering

#17

The internet is the best invention of my lifetime. I love it. The iPhone is the best consumer product I have ever used. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook … all incredible companies that offer great products.

Access to technology is a big deal. You need access to do most jobs, go to school, communicate with friends, pay for things, access games, news, maps, weather…the list goes on.

There is a lot of attention given to the digital divide in the US. This goes as high as the US Congress. According to the linked report, in 2019 95% of people in the US has access to at least 3 options for Fixed Terrestrial Broadband. This is certainly a huge upgrade in access relative to 2009 when just 65% of households were connected to the internet via broadband (source). In all cases poor & rural were less connected than rich & urban. See below charts for more detail.

The argument goes that the rich urban kids would be further advantaged vs poor rural kids because of access. This is largely true.

However, the situation has changed with pervasive access. The digital divide is no longer "access" vs "limited access". The advantage in the new digital divide will go to those that can limit the access. The advantage will go to the people that can turn off notifications, look away from the screen, learn how to think, engage with other humans, and get things done. Basic life skills are being missed due to the lure of the never-ending scroll, constant notifications, and simply great technology offerings.

It is said that the meta-verse or virtual reality is coming our way. But most under the age of 25 already live there. It is a different, largely better world. The internet delivered to your mobile device might be the greatest consumer offering of all time, but we haven't yet figured out how to use it yet.

2019

2009

Source: NTIA