The Digital Divide is Not About Income, it is About Desire

Seth Godin posts on the digital divide and how it is not only a demographic issue, but a choice issue. I respect Seth for his insights into marketing and society, and I think he is absolutely correct in this matter.

Seth Writes:

A few years ago, pundits were quite worried about the Digital divide.The short definition is that the haves would have reliable, fast access to the Net, which would give them employment and learning opportunities that others wouldn’t be able to get. This would further divide those with a head start from everyone else. Wiring the schools in the US was one response to the threat of this divide.

I think a new divide has opened up, one that is based far more on choice than on circumstance. Several million people (and the number is growing, daily) have chosen to become the haves of the Internet, and at the same time that their number is growing, so are their skills.

People choose what the want to learn and invest in. For some, learning how to use a remote and a bottle opener is more than enough. For the people I spent the weekend with were so much more, although they also knew how to use a bottle opener. But they have made a conscious effort to improve themselves and the world through their blogs. To learn and educate at the same time.

That is special.

Maybe our mission is not to get the government to fund another program, but for us to each make an effort to teach another person to blog. That would be a heck of a legacy!