The Participation Gap Redefined

Following on the heels of the classic story of the haves versus the have nots, the digital divide becomes yet another example of the growing disparities in our society. Many organizations, both privately and publicly owned, have worked towards alleviating the problem of the digital divide. They do this by providing those without access to new emerging technologies with a chance to get acquainted with 21st century technology. While some researchers are now focusing on the disadvantages to the people who do not have unlimited access to the internet and new gadgets, there is an emerging trend of people restricting their own access to these digital technologies due to privacy concerns. With people not able to access to new technology to its full potential and people limiting their access to it, there will be a drastic increase in what is known as the participation gap.

Over 50 Percent of App Users Decide Not to Download an App Due to Privacy Concerns

Source: PewResearchCenter

In Kevin Guidry’s short essay entitled “Digital Divide or Participation Gap? Will Mobile Affect it?,” which includes information about the participation gap, his definition of the term focuses solely on the aspect of those who will not have equal access to technology. He then briefly mentions how “tribal” colleges have a culture of not having access to the various technologies, and if they do, they limit how it is use. What he may not know is that this is slowly becoming a trend across America. The Pew Research Center released a study on September 5, 2012 that demonstrated that people are becoming leery of technology because of privacy concerns. In the study “Privacy and Data Management on Mobile Devices,” they found that 57 percent of all app users uninstalled an app or decided not to install an app due to the data the app would collect. This is very important for the digital community to know since many of the technologies that we use today are largely based on apps.

Source: PewResearchCenter

Younger Age Groups are More Aware of Location Tracking Feature on Phone

Continuing with privacy concerns, many people are turning off the tracking location feature on their phones. What is interesting about this is that this varies greatly between age groups. Younger age groups do this more often than older ones. One explanation for this is that the younger age groups are simply more aware of this feature. This could greatly contribute to the participation gap because the old can no longer teach the young about nuisances that come along with technology, so no matter how many computers people have it will essentially be self-taught.   

Growing Participation Gap Due to Privacy Concerns

In terms of mobile audiences, we could see a shift in people truly embracing new technology and learning the ends and out of it to people who will only use new gadgets to perform basic tasks. Since this generation is more aware of privacy concerns, we can see a drastic increase in this group limiting their access to new gadgets. As I stated before, this will increase the participation gap since as this generation becomes older and less involved in technology, there will not be many people who are able to pass down knowledge.