What Is the Digital Divide?

Nearly every aspect of today’s society interacts with the internet in some capacity. From everyday appliances – like lights and refrigerators – to complex health care systems and records, most North Carolinians encounter the internet daily.

As opportunities created by the internet increase, so do inequities for those who do not have access to the technologies, tools and skills needed to participate in the increasingly digital world.

The digital divide is the gap between those who have access to technology, the internet and digital literacy training and those who do not. It affects all generations – both rural and urban communities – and a wide variety of industries and sectors.

Listen to a Podcast on the Digital Divide 

Deputy Director of the Office of Digital Equity and Literacy Maggie Woods joined Bob Sullivan on the Debugger podcast on Feb. 15 to discuss the digital divide in North Carolina. Debugger is a podcast about technology and democracy that is sponsored by Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and the Keenan Institute for Ethics.