Tonight my wife, Pat, purchased tickets Shakespearean play at American Players Theater in Spring Green, WI and reserved a room at a nearby hotel, all on the internet. Thinking about our lives where would be without computers, cell phones, tablets, email and internet? Yet not too many years ago, when I was a young man there was no thought of any of these digital devices we depend on. A 2013 Census Report reports 83.8 percent of U.S. households reported computer ownership, with 78.5 percent of all households having a desktop or laptop computer, and 63.6 percent having a handheld computer . In 2013, 74.4 percent of all households reported Internet use, with 73.4 percent reporting a high-speed connection. Who are the people left out of this digital revolution?
The same Census Report says it is low-income people of color, black and brown, who are being left out this digital age. Digital technology will eventually ‘trickle down’ to poor and marginalized but it is slow and by that time present technology will be much more advanced, again leaving the poor behind.
We are becoming a nation where very few very wealthy and powerful controlling the other. The majority of us live comfortably and are part of the ‘digital age. We email, Facebook, tweet and Instangram . A minority of Americans live without access to this new digital age. The digital gap widens.
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