/ Educational Technology and Change Journal/ As digital divide widens, many can't afford access to information New study reports that 38 % of lower-income parents don't know what an app is
/ Educational Technology and Change Journal/ As digital divide widens, many can't afford access to information New study reports that 38 % of lower-income parents don't know what an app is
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New study reports that 38 % of lower-income parents don't know what an app is
http://www.myfoxspokane.com/news/kcpq-app-gap-separates-those-that-have-access-to-digital-devices-and-those-who-do-not-20111026,0,4406229.story
As digital divide widens, many can't afford access to information
New study reports that 38 % of lower-income parents don't know what an app is
Q13 FOX News reporter
8:03 p.m. PDT, October 26, 2011
SEATTLE-
Screen time for kids is at an all-time high. In a recent survey, 90 percent of parents said their children under age 2 watch some form of electronic media, reported the American Academy of Pediatrics.
At the same time, the gap between those Americans that have access to digital devices and those who do not is also increasing.
The widening of the 'digital divide' is a cause for concern for many parents, including Dede Gidayadhanom-Swan, a mother of three. Gidayadhanom-Swan doesn't have a computer at home, and she worries that her kids are at a disadvantage. "We've got to work harder to make sure our kids are well off," she said.
Hanson Hosein, Director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media program at the University of Washington, agrees that lacking easy access to digital devices, such as a smart phones and tablets, is a disadvantage.
On October 25, Common Sense Media, a San Francisco nonprofit group, published a research study that found families making more than $75,000 a year are more likely to download apps for their kids than families making $30,000 or less.
It's called an "app gap," and it suggests a correlation between lack of digital devices and lack of information. For example, according to the study, 38 percent of lower-income parents said they don't even know what an app is, compared to just 3% of higher-income parents.
Other evidence of the app gap may be found at the library. At the Douglas-Truth library in Seattle, the computer bays are full.
"Many come because they don't have a computer at home," said Jay Lyman with the Douglas-Truth library. "They come for library resources that we pay for on their behalf." Those resources include internet, printers, and data research.
The library is a great resource for Gidayadhanom-Swan who uses the government resource to narrow the "app gap."