Recently,
there have been reports that the digital divide is no longer as big of a
problem as it has been in the last decade. In fact, “The term digital divide
emerged to describe technology’s haves and have-nots. It inspired many efforts
to get the latest computing tools into the hands of all Americans, particularly
low-income families” (Richtel). The efforts that many officials have put into
attempting to fix the divide have indeed begun to shrink the divide. However, these
efforts have created a side effect that was not intended. They are calling this
side effect the ‘Time-Wasting Gap.’ They are saying that “as the access to devices
has spread, children in poorer families are spending considerably more time
than children from more well-off families using their television and gadgets to
watch shows and videos, play games and connect on social networking sites”
(Ritchel). Therefore, one of the solutions that many people thought would be
the solution to the digital divide is actually in fact causing more problems
for the poorer students. However, I believe that this problem could have been
avoided had the school districts decided on a different approach.
In my opinion, the digital divide
could have been avoided had the schools decided to not let technology dominate
the entire curriculum. Today, the schools rely on technology too much, which
transcends to the students needing technology to do their assignments and
homework. This is where many students run into trouble should they not have
technology at home that they can use in order to finish what they have been
assigned. This is why schools need to create a curriculum where there is an
equal balance of technology use and non-technology use. If there was a
curriculum similar to one described, students from all backgrounds would be
able to be successful in school in some way. There would be assignments that
could cater to every student within the classroom. Unfortunately though, today
technology is too important to the educational system within the United States.
The digital divide is a problem today, but hopefully one day it will be solved
and every student will be able to have the same education no matter what their
background is.
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