Digital access is electronic participation in
society. This effects me on many ways because everywhere you look there are
electronics and people using electronics, such as computers, tablets, smart
phones and more. Everyone uses them, from kids and parents to teachers and adults
and business people and even some of the elderly such as grandparents use
electronics like the computer. Almost everyone uses the computer or has used a
computer or a telephone at least once in their lifetime. When talking
about education, the digital divide is the difference between
people who have a computer and internet access at home and those
that don't have a computer and internet access at home. The digital
divide affects me in many ways. Luckily, I have a computer
and internet at my house as well as in school, so if
I'm unable to get all of my homework or my projects in school,
I'm fortunate enough to be able to go home and complete it.
The
digital effect most definitely has an impact on our school and the
students that go here. Not all students have a computer at their house so they
have to stay after school in order to complete projects
that require a computer. The LMC at Bacon Academy closes at 4:30
every day, and the town library closes anywhere between 4 and 8 depending on
the day. This may put some students at a real disadvantage depending on what
day they go to the library and how much time they need a computer
for in order to complete whatever they need to do. if they
can't get all of their homework or projects done, they will end up falling
behind in school and consequence end up failing or become really close to
failing. Also, if someone doesn't have a computer at
home and all of their friends do, they
may become depressed because they don't have
access to everything that their friends do. This will cause more and
more problems down the road because they will be less electronically advanced
then everyone else around them.
There
are a few solutions that we could do to fix the gap of digital divide in our
school system. One thing that we could do is keep the LMC open later for the
students that don't have a computer at home, we could also give these students
more time during class to work on it, or you could even give them a little
later due date since they can’t work on it at home like most of the other
students can.
Digital access is something everyone will eventually need. We have to
start providing a more affordable way to give people the internet access they
need. If the cost wasn’t so expensive to buy a computer and internet access, I bet
more people would have them in their homes.
