While the Digital Divide is Closing, the Participation Gap May Be Expanding Due to Mobile Problems

Guidry's report on the digital divide used data from 2007-2009, but technology is always becoming more advanced and more available, so his findings are not as relevant today. Now internet adoption rates have leveled off and African Americans and Latinos are just as likely to have mobile phones as whites.

Even Though the Digital Divide Has Decreased, The Participation Gap is Still Prevalent

Even though more people have access to mobile devices and the internet today, the participation gap as described by Guidy is still existent, due to varying degrees of comfort and expertise with mobile devices. The use of technology is greatly influenced by one's financial status, history, and culture. While Latinos and African Americans are just as likely to own a mobile device, they are more likely to rely on it for internet access and a larger variety of uses. This also true with college students, young adults, and those with low incomes. Those who do not have a personal computer with internet access tend to use social networks and other websites differently than those that do.

Mobile Problems Can Cause A Larger Participation Gap

A recent study has shown that the majority of mobile device users encounter issues such as dropped calls, spam texts, unwanted marketing calls, and slow internet speeds at least occasionally. A small percentage even have these problems several times a day. This affects the participation gap, because these problems can be very detrimental to the people as discussed earlier that rely on their mobile devices more than others. Someone who only has access to the internet on his/her mobile device and constantly deals with slow internet speed, is limited in his/her internet experience. Dropped and marketing calls can definitely affect one's experience with technology possibly causing frustration and confusion. Spam texts can easily mislead people and possibly make them have less trust in the service and the device. People who do not experience these problems become more adjusted to the devices and better at using them. This causes the participation gap to expand.

Mobile Problems Are Probably Not A Major Factor in the Digital Divide

While the digital divide is definitely not as large today, there are still people without access to the internet. This group mostly consists of elderly, non-English speaking, and disabled people. Also included are those with low income. These people will probably encounter the mobile problems less than those whole rely on the devices more. Hispanics and African Americans experience them at a higher rates due to there higher reliance, so naturally people who do not own cell phones or own cell phones with no internet access will experience the issues less often or even not at all. The people who do not use the internet claim that the reason they do not is that the internet is not relevant to them. Most have never used the internet before, and therefore will not be aware the mobile issues. Some of these people expressed no interest in ever using the technology so there are other factors in the decision than mobility issues. It does not seem that issues such as spam texts or slow internet speeds on mobile devices are as important in keeping people from adapting to technology as age, education, and income.