Schools cannot be expected to bear the entire responsibility for the gender disparity in computer usage. Home environment is in part accountable for the differences. Also, inequities exist in the qualitative as well as the quantitative use of technologies. Within the home, the males are more likely to make decisions regarding the computer, such as which one to buy, and are likely to feel responsible for bringing it into the home. Perhaps the most timely difference involves the way each group conceptualizes computer utility.
Girls tend to see computers as a means of achieving a concrete goal.
Girls are likely to conceptualize computers as a tool, be it for email or wordprocessing, but still a medium with which to accomplish a task. Because boys see computers as toys with boundless opportunities, they are more likely to push existing boundaries to excel in the technology world. Likely responsible for this difference in conceptualization is the disproportional availability of entertainment software for children. Boys learn that computers are fun toys as they play one violent shoot 'em up game after another. The female market does not have an equivalent medium.