Citizens, Computers, and Connectivity: A Review of Trends

As computer and Internet use have grown dramatically, access gaps have widened rather than narrowed in the United States. This report uses Current Population Survey data from 1997 to update trends in computers and connectivity since an earlier 1995 study. It finds that there is a continuing "digital divide" between those who do and do not have access to computers and communication technologies. The division is significantly predicted by income, education, race/ethnicity, and — to a lesser extent — age, location, and possibly gender. The disparities have persisted over a period in which the technologies of interest have decreased dramatically in price (relative to what they can do) and increased markedly in user friendliness. Sizable demographic subgroups that remain on the wrong side of the digital divide may be deprived of the benefits associated with citizenship in an information society.