One can safely assume that if you are reading this you are on the internet. Are you reading it from home? On your phone? To some, accessing the internet is as normal as coming home and turning on the television. But according to the Pew Hispanic Center report, “Latinos and the Digital Technology, 2010,” only about 65% of Latinos in the United States use the internet as opposed to 77% of white Americans. It also states that only 45% of 45 million Latinos in America have broadband internet connections at home while whites stand at 65%.
What is most interesting about this report is that if education and income were controlled the digital divide disappears between whites and Latinos. What this says is that there is no real difference between the two groups other than identity. Reports such as this one helps feed the idea that if more effort were put into leveling the playing field there would most likely be no noticeable statistical difference between Latino and whites in income, education, and all that follows.
Latinos, in the coming years, will count for almost one third of the nation’s population. Seeing that they will be the majority, their use of technology is nowhere near where it should be for such a large population. Latinos and other minorities need to be allowed to be more competitive. Better educational and income opportunities are needed for those in the lower-income brackets in order for them to be successful and have access to things that many take for granted such as an internet connection at home or a cell phone.
This is a topic that emerges every couple of years. In 2008 the Public Policy Institute of California conducted a survey and Matt O’Brien from the Contra Costa Times wrote an article on “Latinos fall behind growing digital divide”. He mentioned how microenterprises like Mi Oficina Computer Café are trying to close this gap on their own.
You can read the full article at http://www.cetfund.org/node/167
Posted by: Maribel Delgado | February 15, 2011 at 04:45 PM