The Digital Divide and Latinos

I recently wrote an analysis for this course about the digital divide and the English-Only Movement. During the research for that analysis I ran across some other interesting sources about the digital divide and foreign language speakers. The Pew Hispanic Center had a particularly interesting report about Latino use of technology. The article, “The Latino Digital Divide: The Native Born Versus the Foreign Born”, has some startling statistics that explain and exemplify the digital divide between Hispanics and non-Hispanics. This article justifies the claim that something must be done to decrease the digital divide; especially between Spanish-speaking and English-dominant citizens.

First, the report states the unfortunate fact that “technology use among foreign-born Latinos continues to lag significantly behind that of their U.S.-born counterparts, according to a new analysis of survey data from the Pew Hispanic Center” (Livingston, 2010, 1). The analysis also points out that “Latinos are the largest minority group and largest immigrant group in the United States” (Livingston, 2010, 1). With Latinos as the largest minority and immigrant group in the US, their inclusion in our digital world should be a top priority.
This article reports a variety of facts about technology use among Hispanics. One particularly useful aspect of this article is the inclusion of cell phone use data as supporting evidence that reveals Hispanics are often on the disadvantaged side of the digital divide. Many articles seem to consider internet use as the primary basis for measuring the digital divide; however, this report acknowledges that technology is more than just getting online. The report also divides data into age groups, making it is easy to see the statistics for high school aged students, which reveals that the educational system can have an impact on the digital divide by targeting this age group’s advancement in technology use and skills. The article states, “among Latino teens ages 16-19, the native-born are more likely to use a cell phone than the foreign born [81% versus 67%], and the third generation is more likely to do so than the second generation [90%-78%]” (Livingston, 2010, 3). The statistics of cell phone use for 16-19 year old Latinos reveals an obvious divide that needs repair.

The article also includes the role of English-speaking ability and its impact on the digital divide; “another indicator of assimilation, English proficiency, is also linked to cell phone use among Latinos ages 16 and older. Some 84% of those who are English-dominant use cell phones, compared with 76% of those who are bilingual and 69% of those who use primarily Spanish” (3). That makes a 25% difference between cell phone use for English-dominant and Spanish-speaking Latinos!

The article also discusses statistics about internet use and explains how foreign born Latinos use the internet less than Latinos born in the United States. The report claims “English proficiency is also closely linked with internet use, some 87% of English-dominant Latinos ages 16 and older go online, compared with 77% of Latinos who are bilingual. This share drops to only 35% for Spanish-dominant Latinos” (Livingston, 2010, 5). This startling statistics reveals the importance of English ability in accessing and using the internet.
The report has statistic after statistic about technology use amongst Latinos and provides graphs and charts to represent their findings. Finally, the end of the article explains the methodology for this study and includes the margins of error. The numbers and graphs throughout this report really provide scientific support to highlight the concerns of the digital divide. The digital divide is a serious problem and is adversely affecting Spanish-speaking Latinos in our nation. The fact that this article does not provide suggestions for how to improve this problem only lends more credibility to the site. This report reveals the facts, it up to the government and education system to take the necessary steps to change these statistics.

Reference:

Livingston, G. (2010) The latino digital divide: the native born versus the foreign born. Pew Hispanic Center. Retrieved February 10, 2011, from