The Reason Behind Digital Divide

According to Prensky, young people who were born after 1984 that are “digital natives”. They are using digital devices more effectively than older generations since they have been living with digital technologies in their whole life. While “digital immigrants” means people who were born prior to 1984, and they would never be as sophisticated with technology as digital natives since they have different ways of thinking. And digital natives are indulging in new media, and they are overthrowing culture and knowledge which is completely different from older generations.

On the other hand, Prensky’s theories have been severely questioned by many researchers. Researchers DaCosta et al. intend to explore digital native theories suggested by Prensky. They used age as the factor to investigate the difference between digital natives and digital immigrant. Although age was the primary factor, some other elements were also collected, including academic degree and family income, etc. DaCosta et al. focused on ten specific items, such as the frequency of using email or internet to complete work/assignments, and the preference of participating online games and downloading movies and so forth, to compare the variations among digital natives and digital immigrants. As it turns out, only two traits of the ten items are greatly different among those people. To be more specific, older generations prefer to use portable digital assistants than younger generations. And younger generations are more likely to use play-oriented educational materials. While in the other eight areas, there are no significant differences. Therefore, Prensky’s argument of the age-based digital divide can be eliminated. Instead, the research found that digital literacy and access are the matters of digital divide.

Furthermore, DaCosta et al. are not alone in this. Cruz-Jesus et al. discussed that differences in educational attainment of individuals are generally regarded as the most essential reason for digital divide. He quoted the diffusion of innovation theory, which illustrates the complexity of technology is the hardest thing for adopters. And the level of educational achievement is the critical factor that it decided how individuals can effectively overcome the technological complexity. A study by the University of Oviedo, Spain researchers found that people with higher education are 5.1 times more likely to use the Internet than those with primary school. Not only the ability to use the infrastructure but the ability to acquire knowledge and search information (Vicente& Lopez, 2006).

Consequently, age is no longer the factor of creating the digital divide in the current society. Mastering the skills in using digital products depends more on the users’ educational background and income level than their age.

 

Reference:

Boaventura, D. & Carolyn, K. & Angelique, N. 2012, ‘Millennials are Digital Natives?’, Review, pp.90-103.

 

Frederico, C.J. & María, R. V. & Fernando B. & Tiago, O. 2016, ‘the Education-related Digital Divide: An Analysis for the EU-28’, Computers in Human Behaviour, vol.56, pp.72-75.

 

Paul, A. K. & Pedro, D.B. 2017, ‘The myth of the digital native and the multitaker’, Revire, pp.135-137.