page_title: Digital divide in the United States
section_title: Trends in access and usage
hierarchical_section_title: Digital divide in the United States / Trends in access and usage
caption_attribution_description: English: Infographic from the White House on the US digital divide
context_page_description: The digital divide in the United States refers to inequalities between individuals, households, and other groups of different demographic and socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information gained from connecting. The global digital divide refers to inequalities in access, knowledge, and skills, but designates countries as the units of analysis and examines the divide between developing and developed countries on an international scale.
  Although the digital divide in America has decreased considerably, there are still certain groups of Americans with limited access, with correlations to race, income, geographic location, and age.
  As of 2016, approximately 11.5% of the total U.S. population did not have Internet access.
context_section_description: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) conducted the first survey to assess Internet usage among what the study deemed the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' of American society in 1995. After U.S. President Bill Clinton adopted the phrase, "the digital divide" in his 2000 State of the Union address, researchers have identified numerous origins and aversions explaining trends in access and usage of information and communication technologies between the groups of United States' haves and have-nots. Over the past decade, several of these demographic access and usage gaps have narrowed, or closed altogether, while others continue to show a lack of connectivity for the group; these include gaps on the basis of race and ethnicity and income.
  The digital divide has been identified by policymakers as a concern in need of a remedy, since technology has the potential to improve individual Americans' lives. Although frequency of Internet use among all Americans has risen (26% in 2002 used the Internet for more than an hour per day compared to 48% in 2009), still almost one third of Americans are not connected to the Internet. 
  Internet connectivity varies widely state by state in the U.S., as well. For example, in 2011 89% of Washington residents were connected to the Internet in one or more locations on one or more devices, ranking first in the nation. 
  Meanwhile, 59% of all Mississippi residents were connected to the Internet in one or more locations on one or more devices in 2011, ranking last in the nation. 
  In addition to a divide in access to connectivity, researchers have identified a skill, or knowledge, divide that demonstrates a gap between groups in the United States on the basis of technological competency and digital literacy.
  The effort by the United States' government to close the digital divide has included private and public sector participation, and has developed policies to address information infrastructure and digital literacy that promotes a digital society in the United States.
caption: Infographic from the White House on the digital divide in the US
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