Is digital divide of young and elderly people increasing?

Kieran Kelley

CAS 283

Blog 5

4-22-2015

 

Is the digital divide of young and elderly people increasing?

            After our discussion in class on seniors and younger children CMC usuage made me think about some of the situations that I have faced with my own family. I have experienced two different occasions in my family that I have seen my grandmother, and niece use of cell phones for CMC usage. My grandmother recently got her first cell phone this past year. If you are thinking that it’s the newer modern day smart phones you’re wrong. The cell phone my grandmother is currently using is a flip phone because it’s easier for her to use, and because she never used a computer before. Since my grandmother have never experienced the use of a computer before it made no sense to purchase an smartphone that had internet usage on it when she wouldn’t know how to access it.

            This leads to my other experience with technology on the other side of the perspective on how younger children are being brought into a society where almost everyone owns a technology device. With many jobs, and individuals who access the usage of technology it’s prone to be around the child once he or she is born. This leads to them being brought into families where the usage of technology is much higher than when my grandmother was a child.  My niece, who is now 4 years older, is capable of working an IPad, computer, smart phone, and other technology devices. The number of children who are able to work technology devices has increased over the past 10 years due their uprising of how far advanced our society has got with technology. Today’s teenagers grew up with digital machines and to a certain degree —with many binary options, with a visual culture of images and their rapid procession. For example, the article identified five different dimensions of technology which have impacted young lifestyle. The five different technology that have impacted younger children are the enabler of future professional occupation chances, symbolic capital, for entertainment of fun and action, as an object for social distinction, and, as means to structure daily activities. Principally the young get in touch with these technologies through trial and error and informal learning processes among peers. The elderly are more used to reasoning, systematic and logical thinking, linear step–by–step processes which are good for formal learning but turn out to be an obstacle when dealing with new technologies.

            In conclusion, even though the rates of both elderly, and younger generations digital device work has increased, but will never reach the rates of younger users. This divide of knowledge gap between current younger, and older generations is likely to be much closer in the near future. Nevertheless the gap will gradually become smaller over time, because the rates of elderly technology usage is growing. If technology keeps on growing expediently like it’s now, you will see a wide variety of mutual support for many opportunities in the future.  

http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1286/1206