The real digital divide is a human values one not a technological one.
It used to be that the digital divide referred to access to technology (or not depending upon which side you were on). Later on it became a synonym for those who “got” technology and those who didn’t. However, implicit in both definitions was simply that technology allowed for a greater access to certain things.
Perhaps it is because of that access, or perhaps it is due to the fact that technology shapes behavior which shapes thinking, that I now often get the sense that the real digital divide is not so much around fluency or access to technology. Instead it is around ways of thinking and ways of seeing the world.
While the two value sets above may resemble the value sets of a generational divide, it feels to me that the more accurate difference these values describe is not age as much as it is the amount to which they embrace technology.
Technology usage has “trained” us to be more supportive and accepting of others and less critical because our conversations are public. It has trained us to accept that lots of people, not just the experts, have smart, useful things to say. It has trained us to see the world differently and to adopt different beliefs. It is difficult to truly embrace technology without adopting these sorts of beliefs.
This has all sorts of implications if you follow this logic, some good, some not so good. However I think that an interesting implication is that values may not be as immutable as we’ve always thought they were. Instead of values driving thinking which drives behaviour, it’s entirely possible that this sequence could actually work the other way around.
