The digital divide refers to the space
between people with efficient access to digital
and information technology and those with
inadequate or no access at all. It includes the
imbalance both in physical access to technology
and the resources and skills needed to effectively
participate as digital citizen. This gap arises due
to the fact that some sections of the society due
to advantages in income or social standing can
make better use of the internet and computers to
further their interests in work and education. The
digital divide may be also seen as an asymmetry
in information access and awareness.
The digital divide has to be minimized to
ensure that every individual irrespective of his
antecedents be at the same starting line in life.
Most of the new jobs being created now and in the
future involve some interaction with computers.
Teachers preparing PowerPoint slides for the
class, accountants completing budgets, engineers
using programmes for complex calculations,
sales clerks printing receipts or airlines booking
tickets and accepting payments online are just
some examples. Organizations will naturally
more readily hire those candidates who do not
have to be trained and can start working from the
joining date itself. This is assuming that computer
skills are the only differentiating factors between
the candidates in contention. But in fact lack
of ease with computers leads to differences in
educational attainments between students due
to unequal access to online resources such as
lectures, animations and academic news.