## 4 Conclusions
### Future Directions  
As societies continue to domestic ICTs, they become everyday objects in our lives [42] and are subject to the particular instrumental needs of population groups. The traditional barriers to ICT usage that were hallmarks of the digital divide and digital inequality paradigms--income and education--are giving way to barriers that are more subjective and context-specific. This understanding explains the importance of other factors in classifying populations. We noted that marital status was associated with greater levels of advanced communication, and that not being employed was associated with an increase in social networking. We can assume that these particular groups of African Americans are using ICTs because they help them accomplish particular goals in their lives. Our research is not the only one of its type to take a social constructivist angle, and illustrate how groups in various social contexts have used ICT for their own group specific needs [43, 44, 45, 46], typically using quantitative methods. However, our goal was to delineate these groups statistically, at a macro level so as to make claims about the structure of ICT activity at a societal level.  
There are more nuanced societal divisions, and social divides may also be the result of _digital practice divides_ based on the needs of particular groups. Mobile phone usage may be predicated on the number and intensity of social networks. The use of a new social network site may be more determined by how the site is marketed and less on the amount of technological skill one possesses. The adoption of an e-reader may be due more to living in an urban environment where public transportation leads to increased commuting times than to any inherent predilection for new gadgets. We suggest a move away from the digital divide/digital inequality models and a move towards thinking of greater or lesser ICT usage as conditioned by the instrumental needs of population groups. This does not mean that traditional indicators of inequality such as age, income, education, and race are no longer relevant. Indeed, our current findings suggest that age is still a significant variable, and that any study using a digital practice perspective may find it useful to explore instrumental needs associated with age and technology.  
Employing a digital practice perspective provides new insight as to how to mitigate inequalities. Recognizing that internet activity is powered by instrumental needs suggests that the links between education, income and internet usage in general are important but may explain progressively less as societies increasingly rely on technologies. Scholars may need to rethink how inequalities are addressed. Specifically, when access is an issue, the more money one makes the easier it is to pay for online service. The response to the disparity in access is to place computers and internet services in schools or in community centers where low income people live. When usage is the focus, the more internet savvy someone is, the more benefits they can extract from their time online. The response to this disparity is to provide computer and internet classes. However, if internet activity is powered by instrumental needs, the imposition from above of technology and computer education classes may be misdirected. As the example of African American males who surpass other groups in networking activity indicates, groups lacking in education and income will figure out the internet if there is enough incentive and opportunity to use it. From a digital practice perspective, the response to disparities in internet activity is to focus on altering what is offered by the internet and other forms of technology, and not on the socio-demographic characteristics of the users.