Digital Divide

The digital divide has become increasingly apparent in our increasingly online and interconnected world. Especially as the prices of technology keep rising and wages are kept the same, people need to decide whether bills are more important or being able to interconnect with people via technology and the internet. The digital divide is important to people because of how information is given these days mainly via the internet or television, traditional media such as newspapers have become obsolete. If people don't have technology, they can't keep up with the most recent information or try to verify or double-check the information given in the news article. There's only one source of information that people who don't have technology can access giving way to bias and misinformation as newspapers don't always have the most thorough research. 

I think one of the easiest ways the digital divide can be bridged is by providing students/adults with home computers such as Chrome Books. This was seen most effectively when people had to quarantine during the pandemic, students were unable to work on schoolwork as they were unable to log on to websites such as Google Classroom, Canvas, or Blackboard. People couldn't go to libraries to turn things in or turn in paper physical copies. Sometimes it meant that students had to complete their entire schooling on their phones which proved problematic as websites such as Canvas aren't always optimized for IOS/Android devices. The fact students were provided Chromebooks meant they were able to keep up with schooling and connect with their friends as schools weren't open for 1- 1 1/2 years. 

Not everyone has digital devices that can keep up with the demands of the modern world which leads to information disparity and increased feelings of isolation. 

As someone who is a video game design major and was in college during COVID-19 until I was able to get a computer that was able to support the programs (Autodesk Suite and Adobe Creative Cloud), I needed to complete my work I struggled to keep up and that added more stress while going through a global pandemic and being a full time college student. Having access to technology that was able to handle my workload meant I was able to keep up and connect with classmates to work on projects and homework.