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131-458: People who are homeless , living in poverty, elderly people, and those living in rural communities may have limited access to the Internet; in contrast, urban middle class and upper-class people have easy access to the Internet. Another divide is between producers and consumers of Internet content, which could be a result of educational disparities. While social media use varies across age groups,

262-425: A quadriplegia disability or having a disability in the hands. However, there is still a lack of access to technology and home Internet access among those who have a cognitive and auditory disability as well. There is a concern of whether or not the increase in the use of information technologies will increase equality through offering opportunities for individuals living with disabilities or whether it will only add to

393-511: A UK non-profit organisation, collates data on the extent and impact of the digital divide in the UK and lobbies the government to fix digital exclusion Research from 2001 showed that the digital divide is more than just an access issue and cannot be alleviated merely by providing the necessary equipment. There are at least three factors at play: information accessibility, information utilization, and information receptiveness. More than just accessibility,

524-471: A US 2010 study reported no racial divide. The historical roots of the digital divide in America refer to the increasing gap that occurred during the early modern period between those who could and could not access the real time forms of calculation, decision-making, and visualization offered via written and printed media. Within this context, ethical discussions regarding the relationship between education and

655-420: A bachelor's degree had internet access in their homes in 2015. Comparatively, only 42% of children whose parents had not completed high school had internet access. For students whose families earned a higher income, they were more likely to have internet access at home compared with students whose families earned a lower income or were below the poverty line. Students who are racial or ethnic minorities tend to have

786-752: A cheap replacement for a babysitter, and their government-run schools encourage screen time during school. Students in school are also learning about the digital divide. To reduce the impact of the digital divide and increase digital literacy in young people at an early age, governments have begun to develop and focus policy on embedding digital literacies in both student and educator programs, for instance, in Initial Teacher Training programs in Scotland. The National Framework for Digital Literacies in Initial Teacher Education

917-593: A civil rights issue, as students are being denied information. In 2012, the United States government created a division called the Open Technology Fund . This program was created by the government to help support internet freedom technologies that ensure access, circumvent censorship, surveillance, and to promote human rights in the United States and on a global scale. This program is solely funded by grants and donations by interested parties. The goal

1048-563: A combination (such as Infostate , proposed by Orbicom-UNESCO , the Digital Opportunity Index , or ITU 's ICT Development Index ). During the mid-1990s, the United States Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) began publishing reports about the Internet and access to and usage of the resource. The first of three reports is titled "Falling Through

1179-489: A computer (43%). Furthermore, the more significant part of lower-income Americans does not own a tablet device. On the other hand, every technology is practically universal among people earning $ 100,000 or higher per year. Americans with larger family incomes are also more likely to buy a variety of internet-connected products. Wi-Fi at home, a smartphone, a computer, and a tablet are used by around six out of ten families making $ 100,000 or more per year, compared to 23 percent in

1310-570: A connection may be so slow as to be virtually unusable, solely because a network provider has limited infrastructure in the area. For example, to download 5 GB of data in Taiwan it might take about 8 minutes, while the same download might take 30 hours in Yemen. From 2020 to 2022, average download speeds in the EU climbed from 70 Mbps to more than 120 Mbps, owing mostly to the demand for digital services during

1441-409: A difference between ratings that candidates received for software developer jobs as well as other technical jobs. As a result, it was revealed that Amazon's machine algorithm was biased against women and favored male resumes over female resumes. This was due to the fact that Amazon's computer models were trained to vet patterns in resumes over a 10-year period. During this ten-year period, the majority of

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1572-418: A disadvantage, only 49% of White adults do. Smartphone and tablet ownership remains consistent with about 8 out of 10 Black, White, and Hispanic individuals reporting owning a smartphone and half owning a tablet. A 2021 survey found that a quarter of Hispanics rely on their smartphone and do not have access to broadband. Inequities in access to information technologies are present among individuals living with

1703-519: A fifteen percent citywide decrease in total rental units, and a seven percent increase in citywide rents. Lack of jobs that pay living wages , lack of affordable housing , and lack of health and social services can lead to poverty and homelessness. Factors that can lead to economic struggle include neighborhood gentrification (as previously discussed), job loss, debt, loss of money or assets due to divorce, death of breadwinning spouse, being denied jobs due to discrimination, and many others. Moreover,

1834-631: A human right. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter addressed this issue in a 2017 interview, saying, "A lot of people don't look at housing as a human right, but it is." His view contrasts with many Americans who do not believe housing is a basic human right. Many homeless enumeration studies published in the 2010s and onward utilize the term unsheltered homeless . The common colloquial term " street people " does not fully encompass all unsheltered people, in that many such persons do not spend their time in urban street environments. Many shun such locales, because homeless people in urban environments may face

1965-430: A large portion of them are women. Also, the governments of different countries have different policies about privacy, data governance, speech freedoms and many other factors. Government restrictions make it challenging for technology companies to provide services in certain countries. This disproportionately impacts the different regions of the world; Europe has the highest percentage of the population online while Africa has

2096-436: A lower percentage of internet usage at home than students who are white. Students who lack internet access at home risk falling behind on schoolwork, as well as being unable to learn technology skills that are needed for many jobs. Being unable to learn internet skills at a young age could put students at a disadvantage in the future. 94% of low income school districts utilize homework that is online, which makes internet access

2227-400: A mortgage digitally. In data from World Bank Findex, 40% of people younger than 40 years old utilized fintech compared to less than 25% of people aged 60 years or older. The divide between differing countries or regions of the world is referred to as the global digital divide , which examines the technological gap between developing and developed countries. The divide within countries (such as

2358-455: A necessity for students. In order to complete homework, students may resort to such measures as waiting for hours to use a public library computer or standing outside of their school after hours to try and pick up a WiFi signal. Research on the correlation between internet access and school performance has been limited. However, one study has shown a significant difference between states that have higher broadband access and states that do not, with

2489-494: A physical disability in comparison to those who are not living with a disability. In 2011, according to the Pew Research Center, 54% of households with a person who had a disability had home Internet access, compared to 81% of households that did not have a person who has a disability. The type of disability an individual has can prevent them from interacting with computer screens and smartphone screens, such as having

2620-502: A safety net for those who were harmed by new forms of production. Later when telegraph and postal systems evolved, many used Rousseau's ideas to argue for full access to those services, even if it meant subsidizing hard-to-serve citizens. Thus, " universal services " referred to innovations in regulation and taxation that would allow phone services such as AT&T in the United States to serve hard-to-serve rural users. In 1996, as telecommunications companies merged with Internet companies,

2751-468: A score of 0.65 while upper-middle income and high income regions have a score of 0.99. The difference between economic classes has been a prevalent issue with the digital divide up to this point. People who are considered to earn low income use the internet at a 26% rate followed by lower-middle income at 56%, upper-middle income at 79%, and high income at 92%. The staggering difference between low income individuals and high income individuals can be traced to

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2882-431: A small effect on shelter and street populations. This is largely due to rent control reducing the quality and quantity of housing. For example, a 2019 study found that San Francisco's rent control laws reduced tenant displacement from rent-controlled units in the short-term, but resulted in landlords removing thirty percent of the rent-controlled units from the rental market, (by conversion to condos or TICs ) which led to

3013-453: A study found that the majority of women who owned mobile phones only knew how to answer calls. They could not dial numbers or read messages without assistance from their husbands, due to a lack of literacy and numeracy skills. A survey of 3,000 respondents across 25 countries found that adolescent boys with mobile phones used them for a wider range of activities, such as playing games and accessing financial services online. Adolescent girls in

3144-527: A survey of people in the UK with severe mental illness found that 42% lacked basic digital skills, such as changing passwords or connecting to Wi-Fi. People with disabilities are also the targets of online abuse. Online disability hate crimes have increased by 33% across the UK between 2016–17 and 2017–18 according to a report published by Leonard Cheshire , a health and welfare charity. Accounts of online hate abuse towards people with disabilities were shared during an incident in 2019 when model Katie Price 's son

3275-524: A “disproportionate” share of those 5 million households; 31.4% of households with school-age children whose incomes fell below $ 50,000 fell into the group without internet access at home. According to Pew, this group makes up about 40% of all families with school-age children in the United States. One of the most commonly cited reasons for students’ lack of internet access at home is that it costs too much for their families to afford. In one study of K-12 students who did not have home internet access, 38% of all

3406-465: Is apparent in tech usage, with men more likely to be competent tech users. Controlled statistical analysis has shown that income, education and employment act as confounding variables and that women with the same level of income, education and employment actually embrace ICT more than men (see Women and ICT4D), this argues against any suggestion that women are "naturally" more technophobic or less tech-savvy. However, each nation has its own set of causes or

3537-496: Is closely connected to declines in physical and mental health. Most people who use homeless shelters frequently, face multiple disadvantages, such as the increased prevalence of physical and mental health problems, disabilities, addiction, poverty, and discrimination . Studies show that preventive and primary care (which homeless people are not receiving) substantially lower overall healthcare costs. In terms of providing adequate treatment to homeless people for their mental illness,

3668-522: Is designed to be receptive to men instead of women. Overall, the study presents the problem of various perspectives in society that are a result of gendered socialization patterns that believe that computers are a part of the male experience since computers have traditionally presented as a toy for boys when they are children. This divide is followed as children grow older and young girls are not encouraged as much to pursue degrees in IT and computer science. In 1990,

3799-512: Is difficult for developing countries to keep up with the constant changes. In 2014 only three countries ( China , US , Japan ) host 50% of the globally installed bandwidth potential. This concentration is not new, as historically only ten countries have hosted 70–75% of the global telecommunication capacity (see Figure). The U.S. lost its global leadership in terms of installed bandwidth in 2011, replaced by China, who hosted more than twice as much national bandwidth potential in 2014 (29% versus 13% of

3930-447: Is examined, others must be controlled to eliminate interaction effects or mediating variables , but these explanations are meant to stand as general trends, not direct causes. Measurements for the intensity of usages, such as incidence and frequency, vary by study. Some report usage as access to Internet and ICTs while others report usage as having previously connected to the Internet. Some studies focus on specific technologies, others on

4061-630: Is indeed an environment in which males have far greater power (O'Grady and Gaietz, 2004)." Women on the street are often motivated to gain capital through affiliation and relationships with men, rather than facing homelessness alone. Within these relationships, women are still likely to be physically and sexually abused. Social exclusion related to sexual orientation , gender identity or expression , or sex characteristics can also attribute to homelessness based on discrimination. Relationship breakdown, particularly with young people and their parents, such as disownment due to sexuality or gender identity

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4192-505: Is likely that their internet speed is inadequate. According to a 2015 FCC report, 53% of Americans living in rural areas could not reach 25 Mbps download speed, which is the benchmark broadband speed set by the FCC. Studies have shown that a student's likeliness of having no internet access at home is increased by several socioeconomic factors. An important factor is the level of education of students’ parents: 71% of children whose parents had

4323-559: Is no infrastructure. Some students who report having internet access at home are only able to use the internet through smartphones and mobile hotspots , in which case their usage depends on having enough data on their family's monthly data plan. Studies suggest that students whose families rely on mobile phones for internet usage often run out of data quickly or periodically lose access to phone service due to bills not being paid, making it an unreliable internet source for students needing to complete school work. Some students in rural areas of

4454-512: Is one example. Homework gap The homework gap is the difficulty students experience completing homework when they lack internet access at home, compared to those who have access. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey data from 2013, there were approximately 5 million households with school-age children in the United States that lacked access to high-speed Internet service. Low-income households and minority households made up

4585-556: Is the Asia-Pacific region at 64%. Internet access remains a problem in Least Developing Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries. They both have 36% of people using the internet compared to a 66% average around the world. Men generally have more access to the internet around the world. The gender parity score across the globe is 0.92. A gender parity score is calculated by the percentage of women who use

4716-457: Is to have the access to the internet not be restricted by outside parties, attempting to ensure there are no conflicts of interest in regards to content being delivered to consumers. Currently, the program is working on completing and funding approximately 83 projects in upwards of 20 different countries, with most of the projects focusing on the United States. Mobile hotspot lending programs have been an effective strategy for increasing access to

4847-625: Is widespread among homeless people and, for around 70 percent of respondents, can be attributed to a time "before the onset of homelessness" Lack of housing serves as a social determinant of mental health . Being afflicted with a mental disorder , including substance use disorders , where mental health services are unavailable or difficult to access can also drive homelessness for the same reasons as disabilities. A United States federal survey in 2005 indicated that at least one-third of homeless men and women had serious psychiatric disorders or problems. Autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia are

4978-468: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 , part of which addressed homelessness prevention, allocating $ 1.5   billion for a Homeless Prevention Fund. The Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) program's name was changed to Emergency Solution Grant (ESG) program, and funds were reallocated to assist with homeless prevention and rapid re-housing for families and individuals. In January 2024

5109-702: The Antebellum South , the availability of enslaved labor made it difficult for poor white people to find work. To prevent them from cooperating with enslaved black people, slaveowners policed poor whites with vagrancy laws. After the American Civil War , a large number (by the hundreds or thousands) of homeless men formed part of a counterculture known as "hobohemia" all over the United States. In smaller towns, hobos temporarily lived near train tracks and hopped onto trains to various destinations. The growing movement toward social concern sparked

5240-643: The Conservative administration's Rough Sleeper Initiative, the number of people sleeping rough in London fell dramatically. This initiative was supported further by the incoming Labour administration from 2009 onwards with the publication of the 'Coming in from the Cold' strategy published by the Rough Sleepers Unit, which proposed and delivered a massive increase in the number of hostel bed spaces in

5371-502: The Federal Communications Commission adopted Telecommunications Services Act of 1996 to consider regulatory strategies and taxation policies to close the digital divide. Though the term "digital divide" was coined among consumer groups that sought to tax and regulate information and communications technology (ICeT) companies to close the digital divide, the topic soon moved onto a global stage. The focus

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5502-602: The United States Supreme Court agreed to make a decision on whether city laws that punish individuals to limit the growth of homeless encampments are in violation of the Constitution's limits for cruel and unusual punishment . In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, permitted U.S. cities to criminalize homeless camps, thus making it possible to jail people for sleeping in areas such as public parks. On October 3, 2024, Florida passed

5633-799: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , adopted 10 December 1948 by the UN General Assembly, contains this text regarding housing and quality of living: 1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. 2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy

5764-526: The convicts transported to the American colonies in the 18th century. During the 16th century in England , the state first tried to give housing to vagrants instead of punishing them, by introducing bridewells to take vagrants and train them for a profession. In the 17th and 18th centuries, these were replaced by workhouses but these were intended to discourage too much reliance on state help. In

5895-405: The digital divide in the United States ) may refer to inequalities between individuals, households, businesses, or geographic areas, usually at different socioeconomic levels or other demographic categories. In contrast, the global digital divide describes disparities in access to computing and information resources, and the opportunities derived from such access. As the internet rapidly expands it

6026-631: The government of the United States also include people who sleep in a public or private place that is not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. Homelessness and poverty are interrelated. There is no standardized method for counting homeless individuals and identifying their needs; consequently, most cities only have estimated figures for their homeless populations. In 2024, an estimated 150 million people worldwide were homeless, and as many as 1.6 billion people live as squatters , refugees , or in temporary shelters. Unhoused persons who travel have been termed vagrants in

6157-619: The 1990s, many were forced to leave the country in search of employment elsewhere. Many of them became illegal immigrants, seeking asylum in China, South Korea or other nearby countries. Families that made it to China were often separated, in some cases children even fled North Korea on their own. These orphaned North Korean homeless children living in China are called the Kotjebi . In 2001, the Scottish Parliament came into place. It

6288-915: The Center for American Progress, "if the United States were able to close the educational achievement gaps between native-born white children and black and Hispanic children, the U.S. economy would be 5.8 percent—or nearly $ 2.3 trillion—larger in 2050". In a reverse of this idea, well-off families, especially the tech-savvy parents in Silicon Valley , carefully limit their own children's screen time . The children of wealthy families attend play-based preschool programs that emphasize social interaction instead of time spent in front of computers or other digital devices, and they pay to send their children to schools that limit screen time. American families that cannot afford high-quality childcare options are more likely to use tablet computers filled with apps for children as

6419-706: The HB 1365 law that prohibits counties from allowing public camping or sleeping on public property without certification of designated public property by DCF according to the Florida Senate. Major reasons for homelessness include: Gentrification is a process in which a formerly inexpensive neighborhood becomes more popular with wealthier people, increasing residential house prices and forcing poorer residents out. Gentrification may cause or influence evictions, foreclosures, and rent regulation. Increased wealth disparity and income inequality cause distortions in

6550-629: The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 75% of people aged 15–24 used the internet in 2022 compared to 65% of people aged 25 years or older. The highest amount of digital divide between generations occurs in Africa with 55% of the younger age group using the internet compared to 36% of people aged 25 years or older. The lowest amount of divide occurs between the Commonwealth of Independent States with 91% of

6681-424: The Internet address the physical mediums that people use to connect to the Internet such as desktop computers, laptops, basic mobile phones or smartphones , iPods or other MP3 players, gaming consoles such as Xbox or PlayStation , electronic book readers, and tablets such as iPads. Traditionally, the nature of the divide has been measured in terms of the existing numbers of subscriptions and digital devices. Given

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6812-411: The Internet or in some cases, find a computer. Additionally, The Public Policy Institute of California reported in 2023 that 27% of the state’s school children lack the necessary broadband to attend school remotely, and 16% have no internet connection at all. This has led to a new revelation: 42% of students say they received a lower grade because of this disadvantage. According to research conducted by

6943-569: The Internet to look for a job. Studies show that despite strong performance in computer and information literacy (CIL), girls do not have confidence in their ICT abilities. According to the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) assessment girls' self-efficacy scores (their perceived as opposed to their actual abilities) for advanced ICT tasks were lower than boys'. A paper published by J. Cooper from Princeton University points out that learning technology

7074-697: The Net: A Survey of the "Have Nots" in Rural and Urban America" (1995), the second is "Falling Through the Net II: New Data on the Digital Divide" (1998), and the final report "Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide" (1999). The NTIA's final report attempted clearly to define the term digital divide as "the divide between those with access to new technologies and those without". Since

7205-768: The Other Half Lives and Jack London 's The People of the Abyss (1903) discussed homelessness and raised public awareness, which caused some changes in building codes and social conditions. In England, dormitory housing called "spikes" was provided by local boroughs. By the 1930s in England, 30,000 people were living in these facilities. In 1933, George Orwell wrote about poverty in London and Paris, in his book Down and Out in Paris and London . In general, in most countries, many towns and cities had an area that contained

7336-630: The US. Once an individual is connected, Internet connectivity and ICTs can enhance his or her future social and cultural capital. Social capital is acquired through repeated interactions with other individuals or groups of individuals. Connecting to the Internet creates another set of means by which to achieve repeated interactions. ICTs and Internet connectivity enable repeated interactions through access to social networks, chat rooms, and gaming sites. Once an individual has access to connectivity, obtains infrastructure by which to connect, and can understand and use

7467-467: The United States are unable to access the internet at home because the infrastructure for internet access does not exist where they live. A study conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences in 2015 found that 18% of students living in remote rural areas had either no internet access or they only had dial-up internet access. Even if students in rural areas are able to access the internet at home, it

7598-499: The absence of accessible healthcare and social services further compounds the economic struggle for many. Inadequate healthcare can lead to untreated illnesses, making it more demanding for certain individuals to maintain employment, perpetuating a continuous cycle of poverty. Social services, including mental health support and addiction treatment, are essential for addressing the root causes of economic hardship. However, limited access to these services leaves vulnerable populations without

7729-570: The actual number of United States Americans without high-speed internet is twice that number. According to a 2021 Pew Research Center report, smartphone ownership and internet use has increased for all Americans, however, a significant gap still exists between those with lower incomes and those with higher incomes: U.S. households earning $ 100K or more are twice as likely to own multiple devices and have home internet service as those making $ 30K or more, and three times as likely as those earning less than $ 30K per year. The same research indicated that 13% of

7860-452: The affordability of mobile products. Products are becoming more affordable as the years pass; according to the ITU, “the global median price of mobile-broadband services dropped from 1.9 percent to 1.5 percent of average gross national income (GNI) per capita.” There is still plenty of work to be done, as there is a 66% difference between low income individuals and high income individuals' access to

7991-477: The area. This applies to regions that have developed networks, like the United States, but also applies to developing countries, so that very large areas have virtually no coverage. In those areas there are very limited actions that a consumer could take, since the issue is mainly infrastructure. Technologies that provide an internet connection through satellite are becoming more common, like Starlink, but they are still not available in many regions. Based on location,

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8122-404: The best solution to a loan default is to take and sell the house to pay off the debt can leave people homeless. Foreclosures on landlords often lead to the eviction of their tenants. "The Sarasota, Florida, Herald Tribune noted that, by some estimates, more than 311,000 tenants nationwide have been evicted from homes this year after lenders took over the properties." Rent regulation also has

8253-479: The capital and an increase in funding for street outreach teams, who work with rough sleepers to enable them to access services. Scotland saw a slightly different picture, with the impact of the right to buy ending in a significant drop in available social housing. The 1980s and the 1990s resulted in an ever-increasing picture of people becoming homeless. Due to economic crisis and famine in North Korea in

8384-578: The care process. Homelessness has migrated toward rural and suburban areas. Although the number of homeless people has not changed dramatically, the number of homeless families has increased according to a report by HUD . The United States Congress appropriated $ 25   million in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants for 2008 to show the effectiveness of Rapid Re-housing programs in reducing family homelessness. In February 2009, President Obama signed

8515-764: The chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . It catalyzed a full-scale global movement to close the digital divide, which quickly spread to all sectors of the global economy. In 2000, US president Bill Clinton mentioned the term in the State of the Union Address . At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic , governments worldwide issued stay-at-home orders that established lockdowns , quarantines, restrictions, and closures. The resulting interruptions to schooling, public services, and business operations drove nearly half of

8646-450: The daily bus commutes, offering relief for teachers, school employees, parents, students, and bus drivers. While North Carolina and Missouri were test states, the program is expecting to expand to other states that struggle with the homework gap. However, as with the mobile hotspot programs, these programs are only efficient if the students have access to hardware like a computer, tablet, or in some cases smartphones, that allow them to access

8777-439: The demographics of homelessness. The experiences of homeless women and women in poverty are often overlooked, however, they experience specific gender-based victimization. As individuals with little to no physical or material capital, homeless women are particularly targeted by male law enforcement, and men living on the street. It has been found that "street-based homelessness dominates mainstream understanding of homelessness and it

8908-625: The development of rescue missions, such as the U.S. first rescue mission, the New York City Rescue Mission , founded in 1872 by Jerry and Maria McAuley . The U.S. Great Depression of the 1930s caused an epidemic of poverty, hunger, and homelessness in the United States. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took over the presidency from Herbert Hoover in 1933, he signed the New Deal , which expanded social welfare, including providing funds to build public housing. How

9039-442: The digital divide consists of society's lack of knowledge on how to make use of the information and communication tools once they exist within a community. Information professionals have the ability to help bridge the gap by providing reference and information services to help individuals learn and utilize the technologies to which they do have access, regardless of the economic status of the individual seeking help. One can connect to

9170-468: The digital divide, and more specifically an Integrated Iterative Approach General Framework (Integrated Contextual Iterative Approach – ICI) and the digital divide modeling theory under measurement model DDG (Digital Divide Gap) are used to analyze the gap existing between developed and developing countries, and the gap among the 27 members-states of the European Union. The Good Things Foundation ,

9301-548: The digital divide. For example, the digital divide in Germany is unique because it is not largely due to difference in quality of infrastructure. The correlation between income and internet use suggests that the digital divide persists at least in part due to income disparities. Most commonly, a digital divide stems from poverty and the economic barriers that limit resources and prevent people from obtaining or otherwise using newer technologies. In research, while each explanation

9432-630: The economies via digital business. In fact, in these places, populations hold shares approximately 2.5 percentage points higher. During a meeting with the United Nations a Bangladesh representative expressed his concern that poor and undeveloped countries would be left behind due to a lack of funds to bridge the digital gap. The digital divide impacts children's ability to learn and grow in low-income school districts. Without Internet access, students are unable to cultivate necessary technological skills to understand today's dynamic economy. The need for

9563-488: The elderly occurred during the pandemic as healthcare providers increasingly relied upon telemedicine to manage chronic and acute health conditions. There are manifold definitions of the digital divide, all with slightly different emphasis, which is evidenced by related concepts like digital inclusion , digital participation, digital skills, media literacy , and digital accessibility . The infrastructure by which individuals, households, businesses, and communities connect to

9694-418: The families who were surveyed reported that it was too expensive for them. Although the homework gap is commonly thought of as a problem that mostly affects rural students, its greatest impact falls on students who live in urban areas, who have internet plans available to them but whose families cannot afford the price. Out of 64 million Americans with no internet access, only 16 million live in areas where there

9825-514: The form of accusations of benefit fraud and "faking" their disability for financial gain, which in some cases leads to unnecessary investigations. Due to the rapidly declining price of connectivity and hardware, skills deficits have eclipsed barriers of access as the primary contributor to the gender digital divide . Studies show that women are less likely to know how to leverage devices and Internet access to their full potential, even when they do use digital technologies. In rural India , for example,

9956-542: The free distribution of information were raised by thinkers such as Mary Wollstonecraft , Immanuel Kant and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778). The latter advocated that governments should intervene to ensure that any society's economic benefits should be fairly and meaningfully distributed. Amid the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, Rousseau's idea helped to justify poor laws that created

10087-421: The global total). Some zero-rating programs such as Facebook Zero offer free/subsidized data access to certain websites. Critics object that this is an anti-competitive program that undermines net neutrality and creates a " walled garden ". A 2015 study reported that 65% of Nigerians , 61% of Indonesians , and 58% of Indians agree with the statement that "Facebook is the Internet" compared with only 5% in

10218-434: The healthcare system's performance has not been promising, either. Disabilities , especially where disability services are non-existent, inconvenient, or poorly performing can impact a person's ability to support house payments, mortgages, or rent, especially if they are unable to work. Traumatic brain injury is one main disability that can account for homelessness. According to a Canadian survey, traumatic brain injury

10349-581: The home and lack of access to a computer in the home. This difficulty, titled the homework gap , affects more than 30% of K-12 students living below the poverty threshold, and disproportionally affects American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic students. These types of interruptions or privilege gaps in education exemplify problems in the systemic marginalization of historically oppressed individuals in primary education. The pandemic exposed inequity causing discrepancies in learning. A lack of "tech readiness", that is, confident and independent use of devices,

10480-510: The homeless population in the United States, and this has presented new challenges to agencies. In the U.S., the government asked many major cities to come up with a ten-year plan to end homelessness. One of the results of this was a " Housing First " solution. The Housing First program offers homeless people access to housing without having to undergo tests for sobriety and drug usage. The Housing First program seems to benefit homeless people in every aspect except for substance abuse, for which

10611-400: The homeless population. Some formerly homeless people, who were finally able to obtain housing and other assets which helped to return to a normal lifestyle, have donated money and volunteer services to the organizations that provided aid to them during their homelessness. Alternatively, some social service entities that help homeless people now employ formerly homeless individuals to assist in

10742-619: The homework gap as an issue of national importance. President Barack Obama cited the homework gap in launching the ConnectHome initiative in July 2015. Senator Angus King (I-ME) and Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced legislation on the topic. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel , who is credited with coining the term the “homework gap,” has encouraged changes to U.S. broadband internet and wi-fi policies to address this problem. The homework gap has been referred to some as

10873-416: The housing market that push rent burdens higher, making housing unaffordable. In many countries, people lose their homes by government orders to make way for newer upscale high-rise buildings, roadways, and other governmental needs. The compensation may be minimal, in which case the former occupants cannot find appropriate new housing and become homeless. Mortgage foreclosures where mortgage holders see

11004-420: The increasing number of such devices, some have concluded that the digital divide among individuals has increasingly been closing as the result of a natural and almost automatic process. Others point to persistent lower levels of connectivity among women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower incomes, rural residents, and less educated people as evidence that addressing inequalities in access to and use of

11135-551: The information that ICTs and connectivity provide, that individual is capable of becoming a "digital citizen." In the United States, the research provided by Unguarded Availability Services notes a direct correlation between a company's access to technological advancements and its overall success in bolstering the economy. The study, which includes over 2,000 IT executives and staff officers, indicates that 69 percent of employees feel they do not have access to sufficient technology to make their jobs easier, while 63 percent of them believe

11266-577: The internet divided by the percentage of men who use the internet. Ideally, countries want to have gender parity scores between 0.98 and 1.02. The region with the least gender parity is Africa with a score of 0.75. The next lowest gender parity score belongs to the Arab States at 0.87. Americans, Commonwealth of Independent States, and Europe all have the highest gender parity scores with scores that do not go below 0.98 or higher than 1. Gender parity scores are often impacted by class. Low income regions have

11397-534: The internet in a variety of locations, such as homes, offices, schools, libraries, public spaces, and Internet cafes. Levels of connectivity often vary between rural, suburban, and urban areas. In 2017, the Wireless Broadband Alliance published the white paper The Urban Unconnected , which highlighted that in the eight countries with the world's highest GNP about 1.75 billion people had no internet connection, and one third of them lived in

11528-420: The internet is the implementation of WiFi on certain school buses.  In North Carolina and Missouri, WiFi was added to school buses so students could finish their homework while they commuted to school. An example of this program is offered via Kajeet Smartbus. The benefit of this program has been linked to not only students completing their homework assignments more often, but also to better overall behavior on

11659-645: The internet starts while children are in school – necessary for matters such as school portal access, homework submission, and assignment research. The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Task Force created a report showing that about 70% of teachers give students homework that demand access to broadband. Approximately 65% of young scholars use the Internet at home to complete assignments as well as connect with teachers and other students via discussion boards and shared files. A recent study indicates that approximately 50% of students say that they are unable to finish their homework due to an inability to either connect to

11790-863: The internet. The Facebook divide , a concept derived from the "digital divide", is the phenomenon with regard to access to, use of, and impact of Facebook on society. It was coined at the International Conference on Management Practices for the New Economy (ICMAPRANE-17) on February 10–11, 2017. Additional concepts of Facebook Native and Facebook Immigrants were suggested at the conference. Facebook divide , Facebook native , Facebook immigrants , and Facebook left-behind are concepts for social and business management research. Facebook immigrants utilize Facebook for their accumulation of both bonding and bridging social capital . Facebook natives, Facebook immigrants, and Facebook left-behind induced

11921-708: The internet. These programs, while opening access to the internet to those that can not afford it, are limited to only being helpful to students with access to smart devices, or some form of laptop computer.  There are a number of different mobile hotspot lending programs attempting to increase the availability to the internet for students. For example, there is the Kajeet SmartSpot.  With this device, students get filtered Internet access anytime, in any location. Additionally, educators receive reports into student use of digital resources that can inform future academic strategies. One attempt to connect students to

12052-570: The introduction of the NTIA reports, much of the early, relevant literature began to reference the NTIA's digital divide definition. The digital divide is commonly defined as being between the "haves" and "have-nots". The U.S. Federal Communications Commission 's (FCC) 2019 Broadband Deployment Report indicated that 21.3 million Americans do not have access to wired or wireless broadband internet. As of 2020, BroadbandNow, an independent research company studying access to internet technologies, estimated that

12183-418: The lack of technological mechanisms hinders their ability to develop new work skills. Additional analysis provides more evidence to show how the digital divide also affects the economy in places all over the world. A BEG report suggests that in countries like Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K., the digital connection among communities is made easier, allowing for their populations to obtain a much larger share of

12314-534: The late 1990s" increased digital inequality, as well as "the initial introduction of broadband DSL and cable modems during 2003–2004 increased levels of inequality". During the mid-2000s, communication capacity was more unequally distributed than during the late 1980s, when only fixed-line phones existed. The most recent increase in digital equality stems from the massive diffusion of the latest digital innovations (i.e. fixed and mobile broadband infrastructures, e.g. 5G and fiber optics FTTH ). Measurement methodologies of

12445-431: The latter having students that tend to achieve lower scores in academic subjects. Another study found that in 2015, almost 50% of students surveyed said that they had missed assignments due to lack of internet access. With the homework gap impacting low-income populations, it is possible that the achievement gap between different socioeconomic groups of students will grow. Policymakers in the United States have highlighted

12576-412: The lesser household. Although many groups in society are affected by a lack of access to computers or the Internet, communities of color are specifically observed to be negatively affected by the digital divide. Pew research shows that as of 2021, home broadband rates are 81% for White households, 71% for Black households and 65% for Hispanic households. While 63% of adults find the lack of broadband to be

12707-617: The lowest income households had no access to internet or digital devices at home compared to only 1% of the highest income households. According to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults executed from January 25 to February 8, 2021, the digital lives of Americans with high and low incomes are varied. Conversely, the proportion of Americans that use home internet or cell phones has maintained constant between 2019 and 2021. A quarter of those with yearly average earnings under $ 30,000 (24%) says they don't own smartphones. Four out of every ten low-income people (43%) do not have home internet access or

12838-434: The lowest. From 2010 to 2014 Europe went from 67% to 75% and in the same time span Africa went from 10% to 19%. Network speeds play a large role in the quality of an internet connection. Large cities and towns may have better access to high speed internet than rural areas, which may have limited or no service. Households can be locked into a specific service provider, since it may be the only carrier that even offers service to

12969-435: The major urban centers. Delhi (5.3 millions, 9% of the total population), São Paulo (4.3 millions, 36%), New York (1.6 mln, 19%), and Moscow (2.1 mln, 17%) registered the highest percentages of citizens who had no internet access of any type. As of 2021, only about half of the world's population had access to the internet, leaving 3.7 billion people without internet. A majority of those are in developing countries, and

13100-503: The medium will require much more than the passing of time. Recent studies have measured the digital divide not in terms of technological devices, but in terms of the existing bandwidth per individual (in kbit/s per capita). As shown in the Figure on the side, the digital divide in kbit/s is not monotonically decreasing but re-opens up with each new innovation. For example, "the massive diffusion of narrow-band Internet and mobile phones during

13231-424: The most powerful explanatory variables for ICT access and usage. Evidence was found that Caucasians are much more likely than non-Caucasians to own a computer as well as have access to the Internet in their homes. As for geographic location, people living in urban centers have more access and show more usage of computer services than those in rural areas. In developing countries, a digital divide between women and men

13362-460: The necessary support systems, hindering their ability to escape poverty. Poverty is a significant factor in homelessness. Alleviation of poverty, as a result, plays a vital role in eliminating homelessness. Some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have studied 'unconditional cash transfers' (UCTs) to low-income families and individuals to reduce poverty in developing countries. Despite their initial concern about UCT's potentially negative effects on

13493-867: The need for more enhancements. Common Sense Media , a nonprofit group based in San Francisco, surveyed almost 1,400 parents and reported in 2011 that 47 percent of families with incomes more than $ 75,000 had downloaded apps for their children, while only 14 percent of families earning less than $ 30,000 had done so. As of 2014, the gap in a digital divide was known to exist for a number of reasons. Obtaining access to ICTs and using them actively has been linked to demographic and socio-economic characteristics including income, education, race, gender, geographic location (urban-rural), age, skills, awareness, political, cultural and psychological attitudes. Multiple regression analysis across countries has shown that income levels and educational attainment are identified as providing

13624-419: The next eight years. However, with a focus on the broader numbers of people experiencing homelessness, many people with higher levels of need got caught in the system. Work from 2017 started to address this, with a framework put in place to work towards a day where everyone in Scotland has a home suitable to meet their needs. In 2002, research showed that children and families were the largest growing segment of

13755-551: The pandemic. The accelerated use of digital technologies creates a landscape where the ability, or lack thereof, to access digital spaces becomes a crucial factor in everyday life. According to the Pew Research Center , 59% of children from lower-income families were likely to face digital obstacles in completing school assignments. These obstacles included the use of a cellphone to complete homework, having to use public Wi-Fi because of unreliable internet service in

13886-515: The pandemic. There is still a large rural-urban disparity in internet speeds, with metropolitan areas in France and Denmark reaching rates of more than 150 Mbps, while many rural areas in Greece , Croatia , and Cyprus have speeds of less than 60 Mbps. The EU aspires for complete gigabit coverage by 2030, however as of 2022, only over 60% of Europe has high-speed internet infrastructure, signalling

14017-539: The past; of those, persons looking for work are hobos , whereas those who do not are tramps . All three of these terms, however, generally have a derogatory connotation today. In 2004, the United Nations sector of Economic and Social Affairs defined a homeless household as those households without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters due to a lack of a steady income. The affected people carry their few possessions with them, sleeping in

14148-423: The penalty was gaol . Vagabonds could be sentenced to the stocks for three days and nights; in 1530, whipping was added. The presumption was that vagabonds were unlicensed beggars . In 1547, a bill was passed that subjected vagrants to more provisions of the criminal law, namely two years servitude and branding with a "V" as the penalty for the first offense and death for the second. Many vagabonds were among

14279-400: The percentage of women in computing jobs was 36%, however in 2016, this number had fallen to 25%. This can be seen in the under representation of women in IT hubs such as Silicon Valley. There has also been the presence of algorithmic bias that has been shown in machine learning algorithms that are implemented by major companies. In 2015, Amazon had to abandon a recruiting algorithm that showed

14410-508: The poor, transients, and afflicted, such as a " skid row ". In New York City, for example, there was "the Bowery " – traditionally, where people with an alcohol use disorder were to be found sleeping on the streets, bottle in hand. In the 1960s in the U.K., the nature and growing problem of homelessness changed in England as public concern grew. The number of people living "rough" in the streets had increased dramatically. However, beginning with

14541-399: The present inequalities and lead to individuals living with disabilities being left behind in society. Issues such as the perception of disabilities in society, national and regional government policy, corporate policy, mainstream computing technologies, and real-time online communication have been found to contribute to the impact of the digital divide on individuals with disabilities. In 2022,

14672-468: The program offers little accountability. An emerging consensus is that the Housing First program still gives clients a higher chance at retaining their housing once they get it. A few critical voices argue that it misuses resources and does more harm than good; they suggest that it encourages rent-seeking and that there is not yet enough evidence-based research on the effects of this program on

14803-433: The rapidly evolving digital environment and continue their own professional development. Factors such as nationality, gender, and income contribute to the digital divide across the globe. Depending on what someone identifies as, their access to the internet can potentially decrease. According to a study conducted by the ITU in 2022, Africa has the fewest people on the internet at a 40% rate; the next lowest internet population

14934-628: The recipients, the researchers found promising results. The study in Kenya found that assisted households increased their consumption and savings. While the families spent more on their food and food security, they did not incur any expenses on unnecessary goods or services. This study shows that a proper approach to poverty could effectively eliminate this factor as part of a solution to homelessness. Providing access to education and employment to low-income families and individuals must also be considered to combat poverty and prevent homelessness. Homelessness

15065-406: The resumes belong to male individuals, which is a reflection of male dominance across the tech industry. The age gap contributes to the digital divide due to the fact that people born before 1983 did not grow up with the internet. According to Marc Prensky, people who fall into this age range are classified as "digital immigrants." A digital immigrant is defined as "a person born or brought up before

15196-595: The risk of being robbed or assaulted. Some people convert unoccupied or abandoned buildings (" squatting "), or inhabit mountainous areas or, more often, lowland meadows, creek banks, and beaches. Many jurisdictions have developed programs to provide short-term emergency shelter during particularly cold spells, often in churches or other institutional properties. These are referred to as warming centers , and are credited by their advocates as lifesaving. Other common terms include urban campers , unsheltered , unhomed , and houseless . In 2020, an entry on homelessness

15327-493: The same social protection. The ETHOS Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion was developed as a means of improving the understanding and measurement of homelessness in Europe, and to provide a common "language" for transnational exchanges on homelessness. The ETHOS approach says homelessness is a process (rather than a static phenomenon) that affects many vulnerable households at different points in their lives. The typology

15458-552: The same study tended to use just the basic functionalities of their phone, such as making calls and using the calculator. Similar trends can be seen even in areas where Internet access is near-universal. A survey of women in nine cities around the world revealed that although 97% of women were using social media, only 48% of them were expanding their networks, and only 21% of Internet-connected women had searched online for information related to health, legal rights or transport. In some cities, less than one quarter of connected women had used

15589-975: The situation of Facebook inequality. In February 2018, the Facebook Divide Index was introduced at the ICMAPRANE conference in Noida, India, to illustrate the Facebook divide phenomenon. Homelessness Homelessness , also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered , is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing . It includes living on the streets , moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, living in boarding houses with no security of tenure, and people who leave their homes because of civil conflict and are refugees within their country. The legal status of homeless people varies from place to place. Homeless enumeration studies conducted by

15720-673: The streets, in doorways or on piers, or in another space, on a more or less random basis. In 2009, at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Conference of European Statisticians (CES), the Group of Experts on Population and Housing Censuses defined homelessness as: In its Recommendations for the Censuses of Population and Housing, the CES identifies homeless people under two broad groups: Article 25 of

15851-413: The top two common mental disabilities among the U.S. homeless. Personality disorders are also very prevalent, especially Cluster A . A history of experiencing domestic violence can also attribute to homelessness. Compared to housed women, homeless women were more likely to report childhood histories of abuse, as well as more current physical abuse by male partners. Gender disparities also influence

15982-506: The widespread use of digital technology." The internet became officially available for public use on January 1, 1983; anyone born before then has had to adapt to the new age of technology. On the contrary, people born after 1983 are considered "digital natives". Digital natives are defined as people born or brought up during the age of digital technology. Across the globe, there is a 10% difference in internet usage between people aged 15–24 years old and people aged 25 years or older. According to

16113-428: The world's population into seeking alternative methods to live while in isolation. These methods included telemedicine, virtual classrooms, online shopping, technology-based social interactions and working remotely, all of which require access to high-speed or broadband internet access and digital technologies. A Pew Research Centre study reports that 90% of Americans describe the use of the Internet as "essential" during

16244-421: The younger age group using the internet compared to 83% of people aged 25 years or older. In addition to being less connected with the internet, older generations are less likely to use financial technology, also known as fintech. Fintech is any way of managing money via digital devices. Some examples of fintech include digital payment apps such as Vemno and Apple Pay, tax services such as TurboTax, or applying for

16375-598: Was added to The Associated Press Stylebook noting how "Homeless is generally acceptable as an adjective to describe people without a fixed residence" and that reporters should use person-first language to "avoid the dehumanizing collective noun the homeless, instead using constructions like homeless people, people without housing or people without homes." Following the Peasants' Revolt , English constables were authorized under 1383 English Poor Laws to collar vagabonds and force them to show support; if they could not,

16506-422: Was agreed by all parties that a ten-year plan to eradicate homelessness by the end of 2012 would be implemented. The Minister of Housing met with the third sector and Local Authorities every six weeks, checking on progress, whilst consultations brought about legislative change, alongside work to prevent homelessness. There was a peak in applications around 2005, but from there onwards figures dropped year on year for

16637-512: Was developed by representatives from Higher Education institutions that offer Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs in conjunction with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE) with the support of Scottish Government This policy driven approach aims to establish an academic grounding in the exploration of learning and teaching digital literacies and their impact on pedagogy as well as ensuring educators are equipped to teach in

16768-442: Was launched in 2005 and is used for different purposes: as a framework for debate, for data collection purposes, policy purposes, monitoring purposes, and in the media. This typology is an open exercise that makes abstraction of existing legal definitions in the EU member states. It exists in 25 language versions, the translations being provided mainly by volunteer translators. Many countries and individuals do not consider housing as

16899-401: Was reported among the US elderly population; with more than 50% reporting an inadequate knowledge of devices and more than one-third reporting a lack of confidence. Moreover, according to a UN research paper, similar results can be found across various Asian countries, with those above the age of 74 reporting a lower and more confused usage of digital devices. This aspect of the digital divide and

17030-595: Was the World Trade Organization which passed a Telecommunications Services Act, which resisted regulation of ICT companies so that they would be required to serve hard to serve individuals and communities. In 1999, to assuage anti-globalization forces, the WTO hosted the "Financial Solutions to Digital Divide" in Seattle, US, co-organized by Craig Warren Smith of Digital Divide Institute and Bill Gates Sr.

17161-509: Was the target of online abuse that was attributed to him having a disability. In response to the abuse, a campaign was launched by Price to ensure that Britain's MPs held accountable those who perpetuate online abuse towards those with disabilities. Online abuse towards individuals with disabilities is a factor that can discourage people from engaging online which could prevent people from learning information that could improve their lives. Many individuals living with disabilities face online abuse in

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