says the blurb on MSN this morning. Hard to believe for anyone reading this, I know.

The digital divide is apparently alive and well.

About 20 percent of all U.S. heads of household have never sent an e-mail, and about 20 million households, or 18 percent, are without Internet access, according to a study released in May.

Similar percentages of respondents also indicated that they had never looked up a Web site or information on the Internet, the survey found.

Age and education were significant factors cited in the study, which was conducted by researcher Parks Associates. Half of those who have never used e-mail are older than 65, and 56 percent had no formal education beyond a high-school level, the telephone survey found.

“Nearly one out of three household heads has never used a computer to create a document,” John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, said in a statement. “These data underscore the significant digital divide between the connected majority and the homes in the unconnected minority that rarely, if ever, use a computer.”

Just 7 percent of the 20 million households without Internet access indicated during the survey that they plan to subscribe to an Internet service within the next 12 months. However, the study noted a steady decline in the number of disconnected households when comparing findings with previous years; the 2006 survey found that 31 million households, or 29 percent, of all U.S. households were without Internet access.

“Internet connections have slowly increased in U.S. households, but getting the disconnected minority online will continue to be difficult,” Barrett said in the statement. “Age and economics are important factors, but the heart of the challenge is deeper. Many people just don’t see a reason to use computers and do not associate technology with the needs and demands of their daily lives.”

To me, it is not that use on a regular basis is lacking, it is that no use ever is  there. We’re talking 15 years after the widespread usage of the internet by non-collegiate, non-military persons. I would think that these type of people would, at the very least,  travel to their public library to try this ‘new fangled thing’ out.

For Father’s Day, everyone who knows their father has never been exposed to e-mail, should make arrangements to expose them to it, and perhaps a hand-me-down computer could be set up for them, and possibly using one of the many free internet access methods available to seniors these days.

This will accomplish several things. It opens a world of changes to them. It makes purchasing stamps, and travel to the post office unnecessary (and anything that helps remove the blight that is the U.S.Postal Service is a good thing, for it is neither owned by the U.S., nor much of a Service, anymore). It also brings you closer together with family - and how can that ever be bad?

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Technorati Tags: digital divide - e-mail - computers - USPS - technological progress - lifelong learning - public library - interest in learning

[tags] digital divide, e-mail, computers, USPS, technological progress, lifelong learning, public library, interest in learning [/tags]