Blog 2 - Internet Accessibility (Topic 1 cont.)

Typically, the internet is seen as a tool for the people of the world to advance themselves mentally. Mostly anyone of any nationality or language is permitted to access this ever expanding source of limitless information that is shared by the globe, but there is a catch; you must have the technology to access to it. This brings me to another major personal problem I have with the internet. The purpose and major function of the worldwide web is to share knowledge and innovations with the rest of the country and world, to give information on how to further themselves mentally and improve situations with solutions they themselves may not of thought of. But, unfortunately, “Some believe that instead of curing poverty, ignorance, and isolation, the Internet perpetuates them. Gaps persist in access for minority, low-income, or rural families (NTIA, 2013). Developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America have been left further behind in the development of a global information economy (Castells, 2004)” (https://shelf.brytewave.com/#/books/9781305990487). This lack of access to technology holds these marginalized communities back, essentially keeping them in the stone age of information. This problem is not only becoming a domestic one, but an international one as well. On the domestic level, the lack of access of the internet to minorities, rural or low-income families disables them in many ways; for one, it becomes extremely difficult to discover what is relevant in today’s society, to hear about new innovations of technology that could help them, and other updated information that would enlighten these people to the world around them. However, this not only effects their overall education, but bars them from researching specific policies of political agendas to formulate their own opinions about them to make well informed decisions while voting. Hence, those who face digital inequalities are not only deprived of the benefits of the so-called Information Society, they are also deprived of exercising their civic rights. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.23779). To fix this problem of internet accessibility domestically, the national or individual state governments should create a budget for constructing large public amenities in these low-income or rural areas for the people there to use or access for free or at a very low cost. This would be incredibly advantageous to the people of these areas, and would help shorten or completely eliminate the digital gap that has been formed in America. However, I do realize the major problem with this solution is that these public facilities would cost a great deal of money to build and upkeep. They also could end up being a waste of money if the people in these areas do not realize the unlimited potential of having access to a world of information. The foreign lack of access will be a much more difficult problem to tackle; it will take a very creative solution to be able to adjust to the various developing countries lack of technology literacy and interest in the outside world. Hopefully, a very innovative individual will come along some day soon to come up with and propose a solution to this international disparity of access to the internet.