Week 10 - task 2 - part a - What difference to all this might the 'digital divide' make to socioeconomically related access issues within a society?

Some people can't afford to keep up to date with all the latest technologies coming out. There are some people who don't even have a computer at home. This is always going to be the case and I don't think it will ever change. I do feel though that this is a factor that is helping create a digital divide.

I remember one of my friends in school didn't have access to the Internet at home and it used to cause big problems sometimes with homework that you needed the Internet for and also she'd sometimes miss out on conversations that we'd all be having on msn and chatting about it in school the next day and she'd feel a bit left out. She could go round to her uncles sometimes and use their Internet but that meant a 30min bus ride so it wasn't always convenient. And yeah..she could use schools Internet to get her work done but that either meant staying behind after school and missing her bus home, or using up her dinner time and that meant missing out on even more stuff going on in our group.

It's situations like that which create a digital divide.

Another thing that causes a digital divide is that there are always new, better versions of laptops, mobile phones and other technologies. And because they are so expensive when they first come out, people wait until they are cheaper and then buy them but then a newer, better and more advanced technology laptop comes out and you're again missing out on something that other people have. - This creates a digital divide too because people will always be behind with all the latest technologies.