The Digital Divide between Blacks and Whites is getting smaller!

By Malik Shakur

In a study conducted by the Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project a nonpartisan, nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world found that:

A. 56% of adult Americans have accessed the Internet by wireless means (i.e. using a laptop, mobile device, game console, or MP3 player). 



B. According to the study:

1. One-third of Americans (32%) have used a cell phone or Smart phone to access the Internet for emailing, instant messaging, or information seeking.

2. On the typical day, nearly one-fifth (19%) of Americans use the Internet on a mobile device, up substantially from the 11% a growth of 73% in the 16-month interval between surveys.

C. African Americans are the most active users of the mobile Internet and their use of it is also growing the fastest. Among the highlights of the findings include:

1. 48% of Africans Americans have at one time used their mobile device to access the internet for information, emailing, or instant-messaging, half again the national average of 32%. 


2. 29% of African Americans use the Internet on their handheld on an average day, also about half again the national average of 19%.

3. 32% of African Americans used the internet on their mobile on the average day

D. The high level of activity among African Americans on mobile devices helps offset lower levels of access tools that have been traditional onramps to the internet, namely desktop computers, laptops, and home broadband connections:

1. By a 59% to 45% margin, white Americans are more likely to go online using a computer on a typical day than African Americans. 

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2. When mobile devices are included in the mix, the gap is cut in half;

3. 61% of whites go online on the average day when mobile access is included while 54% of African Americans do. 



4. African American and white Americans, on average, do the same number of activities.

E. There are also clear differences in attitudes about mobile access across racial categories:

1. With African Americans being very active in texting and IM-ing, it is no surprise to see them in the lead in viewing mobile access as a way to stay in touch with others.

2. African Americans also are more likely than whites to see mobile access as a way to share content with others while on the move. 



3. The growth in use of the Internet on the handheld for African Americans is striking, particularly when focusing on the frequency of doing this on the typical day.

a. Recall that handheld Internet use on the average day grew by 73% for the general population from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2009.

b. For African Americans, growth was twice the rate of whites from 12% to 29% or a growth rate of 141%. 



F. So what does this all mean:

1. That the digital divide that has been wide as all the oceans combined is now looking more like a lake,

2. African American's and Hispanic's are finding cost effective way to have access to the world wide web via their mobile device and are sharing that information via email, texting, twittering and facebooking, and

3. With mobile phone providers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and Metro PCS) offering smarts phones at affordable prices and plans that combine phone, texting and web browsing this lake may just dry up and put us all on the same playing field of sharing information and growing as one.

Data provide by:

John Horrigan Associate Director, Research

Pew Internet & American Life Project

An Initiative of the Pew Research Center

1615 L Street. NW

Suite 700

Washington D.C. 20036

(202) 419-4500

pewinternet.org

To contact Mr. Shakur:

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malik@independentcreativeartists.com

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