
Thus the aim of "closing the digital divide" now refers to efforts to provide meaningful access to Internet infrastructures, applications and services. Though originally coined to refer merely to the matter of access -who is connected to the Internet and is not- the term digital divide has evolved to focus on the division between those who benefit from information and communications technologies and those who do not. Since then, this movement formulated solutions in public policy, technology design, finance and management that would allow all connected citizens to benefit equitably as a global digital economy spreads into the far corners of the world population.
SIMPLE DIVIDER GRAPHIC SERIES
Since the 1920s, global movements, including a series of intergovernmental summit meetings, were conducted to close the digital divide. The same research indicated that 13% of the lowest income households had no access to internet or digital devices at home compared to only 1% of the highest income households. households earning $100K or more are twice as likely to own multiple devices and have home internet service as those making $30K or more, and three times as likely as those earning less than $30K per year.

According to a 2021 Pew Research Center report, smartphone ownership and internet use has increased for all Americans, however, a significant gap still exists between those with lower incomes and those with higher incomes: U.S. As of 2020, BroadbandNow, an independent research company studying access to internet technologies, estimated that the actual number of United States Americans without high-speed internet is twice that amount. Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) 2019 Broadband Deployment Report indicated that 21.3 million Americans do not have access to wired or wireless broadband internet. In the Information Age in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) have eclipsed manufacturing technologies as the basis for world economies and social connectivity, people without access to the Internet and other ICTs are at a socio-economic disadvantage, for they are unable or less able to find and apply for jobs, shop and sell online, participate democratically, or research and learn. The digital divide's effects can be measured based on an individual's amount of time spent on the internet and skill of conducting activity online. The digital divide is the unequal access to digital technology, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and the internet.

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