Who is on the Internet?

Our topic for this week focused on the different demographics of people on the Internet. From an anthropological standpoint, Internet use categorizes people into a particular standard of living. The Internet has become a symbol for financial gain, education, socialization and globalization. It is a standard form of communication, and is the basis for business in our current society. So why isn’t everyone online? We live in a nation that prides itself on being forward-thinking and technologically sound, yet we have citizens in this country who do not have access to the Internet. Our younger generation is growing up in a world filled with technology, yet we have students who go to schools that do not have a large enough budgets to properly teach about technology. We have apps designed to help people through almost every situation possible, yet we have prices to use these apps that are too high for many people to purchase.

I found a great website called Internet for Everyone. This site focuses on the need for all of our citizens to be technologically educated and have the access to the Internet. One individual interviewed in a video for this site stated “There’s a huge population of people who don’t have access, who won’t be able to engage in our society as a whole.” That is a very profound and scary statement. We have moved into a new era in our world. People are communicating and making decisions on a global scale, however we are leaving others in the dust. How many ideas and collaborations are we missing out on by excluding these people? So, check out this website. They have many articles and videos that will hopefully get you thinking about these people who are missing out on the globalization of our world.

http://www.internetforeveryone.org/americaoffline/urban