Reading Sharon Strover's article "The U.S Digital Divide: A Call for a New Philosophy", I have to agree with her that the conversation needs to expand beyond access to computers and the internet. We used to talk about the multiple divides like age, education, locations and income back in my undergraduate years, so I was happy to see her draw attention to pricing, service providers, education and the limitations of mobile internet.
One thing clear from this article is that unless the United States or any other nation addresses the underlying factors responsible for the digital divide, focussing on just access to computers and the internet would not accomplish much. For example, growing up in Nigeria, my family were fortunate to have the money and education necessary to afford broadband internet, but because electric power was unstable, there would always be a likely digital gap compared to Canada or the United States. If the government were to do initiate plans to mitigate a digital divide, pricing, computer and internet literacy, and plans to stabilize electricity will need to be part of the conversation, rather than just beginning and ending with access to computers and internet.
References
Strover, S. (2014). The US digital divide: A call for a new philosophy. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 31(2), 114-122
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