Digital Divides in the United States
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Digital Divides in the United States

 The Digital Divide in the US has made improvements in recent years, however, certain indicators such as race and income levels still show large disparities in access to IT.

According to the 2005 Pew Digital Divisions report, 57 percent of African Americans go online vs. 70 percent of whites. As of 2009, the percentage of African Americans that use the internet increased to 64 percent.68  A Pew English language survey found that English-speaking Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites both have 70 percent of the population using the Internet. However, US Census data, collected in Spanish and English, reveal that 37 percent of Hispanics (three years and older) have Internet access vs. 65 percent of non-Hispanic whites (three years old and older).

Figure 9

Broadband access is the latest digital divider amongst income groups and urban/rural communities in the U.S. A 2010 report by the Social Science Resource Council found that: “Broadband access is increasingly a requirement of socio-economic inclusion” and that “Price is only one factor shaping the fragile equilibrium of home broadband adoption, and price pressures go beyond the obvious challenge of high monthly fees. Hardware costs, hidden fees, billing transparency, quality of service, and availability are major issues for low-income communities.”69   Rural households with broadband still lag behind both urban and suburban households with broadband by 21 percent and 18 percent, respectively.

Despite the inequities in Internet access described above, the United States has made impressive progress in closing its digital divides over the past few years. From 2000 to 2008, the share of all U.S. adults with Internet access increased 135.2 percent.70  Internet usage in rural areas also trails the national average: 60 percent of rural adults use the Internet from any location, compared with the national average of 71 percent.71

The use of IT has increased among all American population groups, regardless of income, education, race or ethnicity, geographic location, age, or gender. Groups that have traditionally fallen behind as new information and communication technologies have spread (rural populations, African Americans, women, and Hispanics) have been making dramatic gains in narrowing the digital gap. African Americans and Hispanics are twice as likely to be able to access the Internet than they were 20 months ago. Women have closed the Internet usage gap with men, and the disparity between these two groups is now negligible.  

According to the 2009 Pew Study, when asked why they don’t use the internet:

  • 33 percent of non-users say they are not interested.
  • 12 percent say they don’t have access.
  • 9 percent say it is too difficult or frustrating.
  • 7 percent say it is too expensive.
  • 7 percent say it is a waste of time.72
Some Quick Facts About Internet Use by Americans

  • E-mail is the most popular Internet application: 91 percent of all Internet users reporting using e-mail services.
  • The fastest growing Internet applications are social networking applications.
  • Lower-income Internet users reported looking for jobs most frequently on the Internet, signaling growing Internet usage in that income group.
  • Large numbers of Americans access the Internet through public access points in schools, libraries, community centers, and for-profit ventures. 

68 http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1006871

69  http://webarchive.ssrc.org/pdfs/Broadband_Adoption_v1.1.pdf

70  http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

71  Pew Internet and American Life Project, Home Broadband Adoption 2007

72 http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Home-Broadband-2008.aspx?r=1

 

Next: The International Digital Divide