The phenomenon that goes with the expanded and increased digital divide is a well-documented issue. As a matter of fact, the original meaning of the digital divide is that there was an inequality in terms of the quality of broadband service for people in urban and suburban areas. Moreover, it also speaks to the bigger problem of increased investments within the private sector that focuses on primarily building the bigger cities, leaving rural and underdeveloped areas on their own and out to dry. As these disadvantaging factors expand, the scope of the issue with the digital divide has also increased in recent decades. The current definition of the digital divide also includes a particular population’s overall technical savviness, amount of private investments, the area’s general technical atmosphere, and pre-existing infrastructure. For example, the primary reason why Silicon Valley is considered the home of so many tech companies is not that Silicon Valley is all technically advanced or has a high quality of living. In fact, it is quite the contrary. Silicon Valley and its surrounding areas are known for very highly inflated house and gas prices. In addition, the Silicon Valley area is known to host a sizeable homeless population, quite similar to the homelessness situation in downtown Los Angeles. Nonetheless, the reason why these companies settle here in the Silicon Valley area, tolerating these harsh conditions, is because of the overall technical-oriented atmosphere it provides. The Silicon Valley area has all the talented technically-minded engineers and coders all in one place. But most importantly, it is much easier and cheaper to invest and build on top of existing infrastructure than to lay the ground to build new infrastructures in an already underfunded and underdeveloped suburban neighborhood. Hence, in order to bridge the digital divide, there must be a well-coordinated strategy from the federal institutions, provided that policymakers are motivated to implement change. Last but not least, in addition to implementing policies, state and city governments must also attempt to attract and incentivize the private sector to invest in underdeveloped areas. The federal government should also extend all necessary subsidies to support these states’ and cities’ own efforts.

Responses to the professor or other students:

I love your mention that the lack of exposure to technology will limit an individual’s career options. Prior to enrolling at Mount SAC, I secured a very high-paying job with the little amount of education that I had, that is, a high school diploma. Looking back at it now, it is fairly simple to see why I stood out the most out of all of the other potential candidates. It is primarily because of my existing industry knowledge which I have acquired from my past work experiences and most importantly, my technical knowledge and my ability to convey and break down technical concepts into easier-to-understand layman’s terms to a non-technical person. I have to say, it really helped tremendously.

I found your example of Nazi Germany interesting. During WWII, Nazi Germany was definitely quite advanced in terms of technology. And because of the German youth’s mandated military enrollment at that time, these kids were able to be exposed to the various emerging technologies. However, I do have to say that, towards the end of WWII, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, although at first, they were excelling and almost pushing into Moscow. They eventually lost that battle and sealed their defeating fate away with the brutal Russian winter and most importantly, I would argue, was the number of tanks the Soviets were able to build at such an extremely fast pace, that ultimately rendered useless the high-tech tanks that Nazi Germany was able to produce at a limited capacity.