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Do Social Networks Bridge the Digital Divide?

Started by Nick O'Neill · 10 months ago

Caroline McCarthy has an interesting post about a recent report which suggests social networks are actually educational for youth, rather than simply acting as a time suck. Social networks have rapidly become one of the most predominant communication tools on the web especially for the youth who ... Continue reading »

3 comments

  • Taisha

    1 year ago

    A friend of mine teaches in San Diego County's Independent Study program where students are predominantly from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. These students, typically, have left their traditional high school due to gang activity or teen pregnancy. And yes, they all have MySpace pages, but that is a long way from conquering the digital divide.

    Students, throughout all US public schools, are groomed to be users (consumers) of technology, rather than creators (entrepreneurs). The divide is the same that it has always been and it falls most heavily on economically disadvantaged students, but underlies all of public education. The real test should be how many of these students are capable of building a simple web application; how many of them blog or understand html and css.
    reply
  • Lorna Li

    1 year ago

    One factor in becoming web-proficient and eventually "web savvy" is access to computers and the Internet. Social networks will do little to help bridge the digital divide if underprivileged kids have limited access to the tools of the web.

    Most consumer social networks are sticky do to their highly engaging, fun apps like SuperPoke, with low intellectual value. What knowledge and/ or marketable skills can these kids gain surfing MySpace, Facebook and Bebo? In fact, when was the last time you learned something new and valuable on a consumer social network?
    reply
  • Isis Avent

    4 weeks ago

    Yes, I think so! I have no doubts in my mind about it!

    Amber
    reply

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