The Participation Gap on the Rise

After reading Digital Divide or Participation Gap? Will Mobile Affect It? by Kevin Guidry and Mobile Phone Problems by the Pew Research Center,  it is very clear that with the rise of new and improving technology, comes new problems. Guidry wrote about two examples pertaining to the issues regarding technology, which are the digital divide and the participation gap. The digital divide is a phrase that explains the division in ownership of computers and the internet. Although many Americans have laptops, cell phones, and access to the internet, there are still those who unfortunately are unable to obtain these. The participation gap refers to the different experiences, skills, predilections, and comfort levels between students and technology. The participation gap is not so much about either having or not having these devices, but more so about the unequal access and use regarding these.

The digital divide will soon be nonexistent, but the participation gap is on the rise. 
Although the digital divide used to be a larger issue a few years ago, it is quickly decreases as technology is becoming more advanced, cheaper, and easier to gain access to. According to the Pew Research Center, 88% of Americans own cell phones. However, just because the digital divide is coming to a close does not mean the participation gap is too. In fact, the participation gap is actually increasing rapidly. Both in Guidry's and the Pew Research Center's article, African-Americans and Hispanics are at a disadvantage when it comes to computer and cell phone ownership, as well as access to the internet when compared with Caucasians. The reason for this inequality is not due to race, however, it is due to underemployment, less education, and less money. Also, it is seen that students who attend private colleges tend to have their own devices more often than public schools. The reason why there is a difference in the experiences and skills between students and even adults is because there were certain groups who were able to buy these technological devices when they were more expensive and harder to obtain, while other groups of people simply could not. Therefore, those who have had access to these devices for a longer amount of time are more comfortable and knowledgeable than those who are just recently gaining ownership and access.

The participation gap will be in existence for a long time.
With the never ending improvements of technology, the participation gap will continue to grow. Improvements, discoveries, and knowledge are always on the rise in America. There will always be new problems to solve and unknown information that people are looking to discover. With that being said, economical issues will also be prevalent for a great amount of time. No one in American has the same amount of resources, money, knowledge, and privilege, which is why the participation gap with continue to rise in the future. Although now almost all Americans have cell phones, the creation of smart phones has yet again made another gap. Once almost every American has a smart phone, a new technological advancement will have occurred that not everyone can have access to immediately. Therefore, the participation gap will continue to exist as long as technology and improvements do.