digital divide

I think that with education, its hard to integrate technology without having differences between social and economic class. Some people may not have access to computers, some may have limited access, and some may have unlimited access. I think its a lot easier and convenient to have technology within the world of education, but its impossible for everyone to be expected to use computers and other technology to help with education.

With the government, I think that there are a lot of things out there that make it easy for us to be able to access information online with little to no effort. For those who don't have a computer, the internet, or don't know how to use the internet it can be a whole other story. Government run websites have a lot of useful information on them (state laws, tax information, etc.), but I honestly wouldn't know how to access that information if I didn't have a computer in front of me.
Health information and services provided through the internet is a great way to keep people informed. On the other hand, I think that it is a huge disadvantage to those who don't have access to computers when it comes to health information. When I think of the internet and health info, webMD comes to mind. On that website, you can pretty much look up information for any and all ailments one might have. Granted, the internet isn't an excuse for going to the doctors, but I think that theres a huge advantage in looking up your symptoms before you go running to the doctor.

Watching past episodes of LOST and Grey's Anatomy on abc.com is something that I definitely take for granted. This is just one of many things that the digital divide keeps from people. Though the internet is definitely a huge source of information, I think its just as much for entertainment as it is for information. Watching videos is one thing, but with a lot of the websites I frequent, there is no real-life alternative, at least that I know of. For example, I really like to look at NatalieDee comics, which I probably wouldn't be able to find outside of the internet (not to mention she probably wouldn't be heard of if it wasn't for the internet).

With many jobs today, its possible for people to work from home when they normally wouldn't be able to thanks to the internet. I think this is a huge disadvantage to people who don't have computer access because it takes a lot of job opportunity away from them. Though I don't have any personal experience, i think it would be pretty convenient to be able to work remotely from wherever you feel like. I know someone who is currently traveling the world who works part-time as a journalist, based out of Paris. He reviews shows from a special website that his company provides and writes articles about them, and then emails them to his work. Without the internet, he'd be broke and jobless traveling the world, but with the wonderful world of the internet, he can jump around the globe while still holding the same job.