Digital Divide and Digital Equity

As we take a look at the two terms called digital divide and digital equity, there are some different ideas about it.  For digital divide, it can be summarized as the disparity that exists among individuals and communities with varying degrees of access to digitally mediated information and communication technologies and ability to benefit from digital resources.  This gap that is created has socioeconomic and educational implications along with global impacts (Pazurek & Feyissa 2015).  As for digital equity, it can be described as ensuring all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy.  It is necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services (The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, 2016).

These terms are both very different ideas, but they are related.  As I somewhat explained above, digital divide is essentially a gap between people who have access and use of the internet and those who don’t have access to it.  There are many barriers people have to face in the digital divide.  Not having access to the internet in our world today can cause issues academically, economically, and in all other areas.  When it comes to digital equity, it’s making sure everyone does have access to the internet and the ability to use it.  According to the University of Southern California, digital equity means ensuring students have equal access to technology as well as the training necessary to navigate digital tools (Digital Equity in Education, 2018).  These two terms mean something different, but they both go together.  With all of the digital divide in our world, we need to use digital equity in order to cut down on all of the divide.  Our world has a lot of divide right now, especially in students who are not allowed to go to school.  Making sure all students have the same access to the internet or at least cutting down the gap is going to be critical in giving students the best education possible.

There are many ways in which limited digital technology access, knowledge, and sills can impact one’s ability to actively participate.  When we talk about skills, it can be seen in one of our readings this week.  It says, “Access to information is the key to an inidividual’s position in society, though access is not everything; it is only the starting point in many countries and societies as the power structures of society and academia remain (Radovanovic, 14 Dec 2011).  The biggest point this makes is that getting access to technology isn’t even the whole issue.  Many people do have access, but they don’t have the knowledge and skills necessary to utilize the technology in the correct way.  If we want to look at just the access itself, new research was done by Microsoft.  In one of the articles I read, it says, “1% of primary state schools were able to provide devices that their pupils can take home, compared to 38% of private primary school (Leprince-Ringuet 7 Dec 2020).  This just shows the gap that is harming some students education.  Private school can’t be afforded by many, and it seems like that puts them at a disadvantage right away.  Public school aren’t providing the correct materials, especially when kids aren’t able to go to school during the pandemic.  While it’s going to take a lot of work, it’s necessary to bridge the gap.

https://pullias.usc.edu/digitalequity/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/no-pc-no-wi-fi-for-school-children-the-digital-divide-is-real-and-getting-worse/

Digital Citizenship in Society

When I think about digital citizenship, a number of things come up.  The one definition that really stands out to me is provided in “What is Digital Citizenship?” where it talks about how digital citizenship refers to responsible use of technology, and it can be used by anyone who uses computers, Internet, or other devices to engage with the world (Zook, 2019).  However, digital citizenship can be defined in other ways but still have the same meaning behind it.  In a different article, digital citizenship is described as applying to people who use the internet both regularly and effectively (Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Ramona S. McNeal, 2007).  The thing that could make my last definition somewhat different is due the book where I got the snippet from was published in 2007.  The same ideas apply across the board even though we have come much further.  My personal definition of digital citizenship is similar to both of these, and it is participating online but knowing how to act and interact with others responsibly.

The next part of defining digital citizenship is how it’s compared to digital literacy.  I want to spend the time talking about how I compare the two, so there’s a better understanding of my interpretation of the two versus how other people might perceive them.  First, I think both digital literacy and citizenship are alike.  It involves working with the internet and staying engaged using different forms of involvement such as computers or devices.  The biggest differences come with how they’re used.  Digital literacy is knowing how to use the internet and find different information through it using many different digital platforms.  Literacy really just makes sure you’re good at using different digital platforms.  Digital citizenship is knowing how to use the internet and these different platforms.  When I say how, I mean you’re using it responsibly.  You’re using it, but you are using it correctly and smart.  It involves many different levels of understanding making literacy and citizenship two different things.  

The last part is how can it be fostered or supported for adult learners like ourselves.  What can educators do to teach it and how can good digital citizenship be done?  First, I’ll start with what educators can do.  In higher education, those who supervise students have to take the lead when it comes to laying expectations and role modeling to students what it looks like (Ahlquist, 2014).  There essentially needs to be a certain way of doing things that encourages expectations be met.  When we think about what each of us can do to practice digital citizenship, it comes down to a number of things.  The first thing we can do is lead and assist others in building positive digital experiences.  The next thing we can do is recognize our actions have consequences to others.  The last important thing is how to participate in a manner for the common good (Ribble, Bailey, & Ross, 2004).

https://www.josieahlquist.com/2014/01/27/infusing-digital-citizenship-into-higher-education/

https://www.digitalcitizenship.net/nine-elements.html

https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-is-digital-citizenship#:~:text=Digital%20citizenship%20refers%20to%20the,topic%20to%20teach%20today's%20students.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/digital-citizenship

Social Media & Participatory Culture

One of the biggest things about social media is this participatory culture that has been formed around it.  Participatory culture can be defined in its simplest form as participating.  However, it is much more complex.  Participatory culture is every time we participate, we partake in various forms of labour sharing.  This can go from creative and social to emotional and affective labour (Jenkins, Puroshotma, Clinton, Weigel, & Robison, 2009).  Another way of defining participatory culture is people feel like they can contribute, and their contribution will be valued if they do.  I think this ties right into social media today.  Everybody wants to have their ideas and opinions heard, and I think it’s important for everybody to have a say.  The perfect example of this in relation to social media is Twitter.  Twitter is where people love to share their ideas and opinions and many times try to be torn down.  I think this participatory culture is something we need to keep in mind, so we can listen and respect each other.

When I think about my own participation within social media, I don’t actively participate as much as others might.  The place where I participate the most in social media would have to be through Facebook.  Facebook is a place where I’m motivated to seek out information and possibly engage with others.  I personally never got into Twitter, but I do enjoy Facebook as a platform to participate.  Another platform I use is Tik Tok.  I don’t make my own videos, but I do enjoy watching others videos.  I think my participation as a whole within social media is completely for entertainment.  I do get information and some news from social media, but my experience has been for my own personal entertainment.  It may be to pass the time or seek out something, but I don’t participate much in other sides of social media.  The other small part of my social media usage is keeping up to date with my friends.  This can be connecting over social media with my friends I haven’t seen for some time, or it could be just scrolling past their recently posted pictures.

Another part that interested me about this participatory culture is the participation gap.  There are many different cities around the world offering wireless internet for a fee or free of charge.  Having internet available to everyone in a city free of charge could be a huge difference maker for participatory culture.  For example, in Philadelphia, low-income families are going to be able to be fully and completely connected with free internet access (Hinton & Hjorth, 2013).  This is a very important step as the children in these families will be able to be connected, so they don’t fall behind in school.  Everything is starting to be put online, so if somebody doesn’t have internet access they won’t be able to stay up to speed.  This gap between kids who are doing better academically and those who aren’t doing as well can start to come down to economic status.  When the internet wasn’t as widely used, this wasn’t as much of an issue due to books being the main source of schooling and knowledge.

The last interesting part of this participatory culture is from a small snippet of Henry Jenkins TED Talk.  It wasn’t something that was a big idea, but it was something that I heard that intrigued me.  He was talking about participatory culture and started going on about Peter Parker.  While he was talking about him he said, “The really successful stories are places where young people and adults meet each other on equal footing based on common interests (Jenkins, 2010).”  The reason this stuck out to me is we have been living in a society where most parents of kids in their 20′s aren’t as engaged in social media.  These parents had kids in their teens when social media was really starting to take off.  I think when we talk about participatory culture, parents need to be participating too.  This doesn’t need to be actively participating in their kid’s social media use or internet use, but it does need to be making sure kids are doing the right things and familiarizing themselves with it.  Social media and the internet are very difficult and complicated things, but I think it’s important to understand our own participation.

Teens and Social Media

As we think about the relationship between teens and social media, there are many different ideas about it.  Common Sense Media and the Pew Research Center are able to help give a better understanding of what this relationship looks like.  First, it’s very apparent the most popular apps for ages 18-24 are Snapchat and Instagram which are both over 70% on the percent of people who use them.  When looking at teens in particular, I found it interesting they value in person communication 13% less in 2018 than they did in 2012.  I can only imagine this number is continuing to go down as well.  The last point I found that stood out is what teens are being exposed to.  54% of teens said if parents knew what actually happened on social media, they’d be much more worried about it.

Whether you like social media or don’t, there are both positive and negative effects on us as people.  When looking on the positive side of things, teens are 25% less lonely when using social media.  They also feel 21% more popular and 20% more confident when using social media.  It seems as if teens feel more in the loop when they are on social media and feel as if they are a part of something important.  On the negative side of things, teens with low social-emotional well-being are the ones to experience more of these negative effects.  70% of these teens feel left out or excluded when using social media.  35% of them have been cyberbullied before, unlike the 5% of teens who were cyberbullied that have high social-emotional well-being.

With all of the different data and effects of social media, I found one point very interesting.  The main word for this point is distraction.  One of social medias downfalls that I’ve experienced myself is distraction from things going on in your life.  57% of teens say social media distracts them from their homework and 54% of teens say it distracts them when they should be paying attention to the people they are with.  This distraction not only takes a toll on these things, but it also is causing teens to not go out and see their friends in person at all.  42% of them say social media has taken away from time they could be spending with their friends.  All of these points come back to one word and it is distraction.  

While I found some points very obvious, many of the other ones I believed were surprising.  I thought I would be spending much of my time ripping social media and how it’s only bad for people, but I have a better realization of how it is helping teens.  However, it’s important to not completely rely on social media.  Like I said in my previous paragraph, social media is a distraction.  If teens are only feeling confident or less lonely when they’re using social media, they’re using it to distract them from underlying issues or other things in their life they need to take care of.  While social media can be used for both good and bad, it’s important to be cautious of it’s effects.