Technology, as a pervasive yet essential element of life, has become so within the past decade, especially with the advent of highly advanced electronics and instantaneous communication via the World Wide Web. Before, the general populace was not completely dependent on such technologies to run facets of society integral to survival, such as methods of communicating and practicing commerce. Nowadays, one finds the conveniences afforded by computers and the Internet to be almost indispensable in day to day interactions with others. A new market, all of it online, has sprung up and established itself as a viable presence in the world economy. In addition, the rest of the world has begun adapting to the rapid rate of technological developments.
Many jobs now require familiarity and experience with computers to be prerequisites to hiring.
As technology has raced along, so has its cost. More often than not, the most recent developments are extremely expensive, fiscally, and can only be afforded by a certain segment of consumers. The phenomena has led to several gaps created between different sections of society ranging from very narrow gaps to enormous gaps. Important aspects of the divide are where it occurs and who it affects. For our purposes, we will examine the differences between major urban centers and rural areas or small towns.