Time to Get Serious About the Digital Divide

The Digital Divide, that separates those with access to computers and who have digital literacy from those who do not, is one of the most serious problems facing Americans today. It impacts Americans working in local, regional, national, and international labor markets. It strains the economy. This is not a problem that might impact us if we do not act now, it is a problem that is already felt as America retreats from its history of innovation and technology-driven productivity. The Yankee Ingenuity that fueled our economy in the past can only become available again if we make it so that any American has the ability to achieve economic success. That success is now dependent upon an ever rising level of personal competence as well as higher levels of access to high-performance networks and the resources that live on them. We must halt the growth of the rising underclass of digital have-nots as well as boost the general digital capacity of the nation that has not enough to compete in a global economy.