Digital Divide: Media and Globalization

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Media and Globalization
Digital divide is a term used to describe the gap between individuals in a society or a given population regarding their access to information and communication technologies. It refers to one group that possesses the skills to utilize technology and the other group that lacks the ability to use technology. It is notable however that the two groups must be in the same geographical area, community, or society. Therefore, digital divide can either be a social or economic inequality between related people in terms of information access and utilization. It is critical that digital divide can exist between countries. In such a case, it can be termed as global digital divide. Such a divide is very common between developed and less developed countries. This paper discusses the historical background of digital divide and its significance to contemporary globalization.
The question that arises here is whether this digital divide has a historical foundation because historians always inquire whether there was a digital divide earlier. For example, London records a high digital divide between its wealthy and poor members of society. Dating back to 1870, all domestic telegraph companies in Great Britain came under the control of General Post Office (Wenzlhuemer, pg. 438). The General Post Office had a task of deciding, which offices to close, merge, or expand. Thus, disproportionate concentration of digital networks is vivid from the survey at that time (Wenzlhuemer, pg. 439).
It is critical that data from the bureaus is important to historians because it indicates the digital circuit patterns at around 1870. Additionally, the data demonstrates the similarities in digital divide between the past and the present. For instance, the data indicates that like the pre...