AP® Computer Science Principles review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/csp/units/5/5-2)
Unit 5 · Topic 5.2
5.2 Digital Divide
Not everyone can get online the same way. The digital divide is the gap in access to devices and the internet, and this topic covers what causes it, who it affects, why it matters for fairness, and what people, organizations and governments do about it.
Key terms
- digital divide
- access
- equity
- socioeconomic factors
- geographic factors
What the digital divide is
The digital divide is the gap between people who have good access to computing devices and the internet and people who have limited access or none.
Access isn't just yes or no. A family might have internet only through one phone with a small data plan. A student might have a laptop but a connection too slow for video classes. These are all part of the divide.
The gap shows up at every scale: between countries, between regions of one country, between neighborhoods in one city and between individual people in the same household.
What causes it
| Kind of factor | Examples |
|---|---|
| Socioeconomic | Income and cost: devices, monthly service plans and repairs cost money that some families can't spare |
| Geographic | Rural areas may have no high-speed lines because building them over long distances costs more per customer; some countries have far less infrastructure overall |
| Demographic | Age, disability, language and education can affect whether people have the devices, the skills or the accessible tools they need |
Why it matters
More and more of daily life happens online: homework, job applications, banking, health appointments, government services and news. People on the wrong side of the divide can miss out on all of these, so the divide can widen gaps that already exist in education and income.
This is a question of equity (fair chances for everyone), access (who can actually use the technology) and influence (whose voices are heard online and whose needs get designed for). When most users of a service come from one group, the service tends to be built around that group.
The divide affects groups, like a whole rural county, and individuals, like one student without a home connection during remote learning.
Making it wider or narrower
Choices by individuals, organizations and governments can shrink the gap or grow it.
Narrowing it: schools lending laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots, libraries offering free computers and classes, companies building low-cost phones or plans, and government programs that pay for internet in schools, libraries and rural areas. In the United States, the E-Rate program has helped schools and libraries pay for internet service since the late 1990s.
Widening it: a school assigning homework that needs fast home internet, a city moving a service online only, or an app that runs only on expensive new phones. These choices can leave people without access further behind, even when nobody means for that to happen.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Spotting a choice that widens the divide
A town replaces its in-person permit office with a website that works best on a laptop with a fast connection. Explain how this could affect the digital divide and suggest one change that would help.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Ask who can use the new system easily: residents with laptops and fast home internet.
- Step 2: Ask who can't: residents in areas with slow service, people who only have a phone, and people who aren't comfortable using websites, such as some older residents.
- Step 3: Connect it to the divide: those residents lose easy access to a public service, so the change widens an existing gap.
- Step 4: Suggest a fix that targets the cause: keep a phone or in-person option, make the site work on phones and slow connections, or offer help at the public library.
Answer: It widens the divide by making a public service harder to reach for people with slow internet, only a phone, or less experience online; a fix is to keep an in-person option or make the site work well on phones.
Common mistakes
- Treating the divide as only about owning a device. Speed, cost of data, skills and accessibility all count.
- Thinking the divide exists only between rich and poor countries. It also exists inside a single town or school.
- Assuming it can only be fixed by governments. Schools, libraries, companies and individuals all make choices that affect it.
On the exam
- Expect questions that describe a policy or innovation and ask whether it would increase or reduce the digital divide, or which group it affects.
- When a choice mentions income, location or a demographic feature (like age) as the reason some people lack access, that's the language of the digital divide.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 5.2 Digital Divide. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
Which of the following best describes the digital divide?
Which of the following is an example of a geographic factor that contributes to the digital divide?
A school district moves all homework assignments to an online system that students must use from home. Which group is most likely to be harmed by this change?
Which two actions would most directly reduce the digital divide in a community? Select two answers.
Select two answers. 0 of 2 chosen
0 of 4 answered