Top Highlights

• In 1995 the term ‘digital divide’ was first used in a number of newspapers in the United States. It was backed by data in the report Falling through the Net, published by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which talked about ‘haves and have nots’ (NTIA 1995).
• The most common definition runs as follows: a division between people who have access and use of digital media and those who do not. The term ‘access’ was emphasized in the first years of discourse, though later the word ‘use’ was highlighted.
• A common synonym for digital media is the general term ‘information and communication technology’. Access can refer to its devices, connections or applications.
• The first device to be accessed was a stand-alone computer or a PC, to be followed by a series of digital media, both mobile (mobile phones, laptops, tablets and smartphones) and digitized analogue media (television, radio, cameras and game devices). Connections mentioned were the Internet, mobile telephony and digital broadcasting, with either nar...
• interest were e-mail, search engines, e-commerce, e-banking and social-networking sites.