San Diego’s Digital Divide Revisited

The Waitt Family Foundation and San Diego Regional Technical Alliance have released a follow up study on computer and internet access in San Diego entitled San Diego’s Digital Divide Revisited. You can also view/download the entire study in PDF format.

If you’re Hispanic/Latino, low-income, over 65, or a resident of South County, the digital divide is still very real. Hispanics, who comprise 28% of San Diego’s population, make up 40% of the “unwired.” One-third of South County’s residents do not have access to a computer at home, school or work. The lowest-income San Diegans (those with household incomes less than $20,000) and those between 18 to 24 years old are most likely to rely on public access facilities for their computer access. And if you didn’t finish school and are working at a low-skill job, you’re only half as likely to have a computer at work as the rest of the population.

The Waitt Family Foundation also sponsors the Tech Power program which aims to narrow San Diego’s digital divide.

Interestingly, the local media has chosen to interpret the study differently. Today’s Union Tribune sports the headline “County’s digital divide is narrowing” while NBCSandiego.com’s headline reads “San Diego’s Digital Divide Widens.”