Smartphones and the Great Digital Divide

Read Case: Smartphones and the Great Digital Divide on page 282 in the text and answer the questions below. APA formatting guidelines require a title page, abstract page, and reference page in addition to the body of the paper.

In this final closing case study, we present some data regarding smartphone adoption and usage by ethnicity, gender, income, and education. It’s very interesting to see how different groups use smartphones in different ways.

1. Even though 44 percent of African Americans and Latinos own a smartphone while only 30 percent of White, non-Hispanics do, many people contend that this isn’t really closing the great digital divide because African Americans and Latinos use their smartphones more for entertainment than empowerment. Build an argument to support the previous statement.
2. When accessing the Internet, what can you do on a desktop or laptop computer that you can’t do on a smartphone? If smartphones have fewer Internet capabilities (than desktop and laptop computers), can you necessarily link an increase in smartphone ownership within a U.S.-based economically-disadvantaged group of people to closing the great digital divide? Why or why not?
3. How does an increase in smartphone ownership in a third-world geographic region like Africa close the digital divide for countries in that region? If you owned a U.S. business and wanted to start doing business in Africa, what would be an essential part of your marketing strategy?
4. If you look at smartphone ownership by household income, you’ll notice a fairly sizable dip for the category of $50,000-$75,000. To what do you attribute this? Justify your answer?
5. Finally, will greater access to the Internet cause a closing of the great digital divide? You can answer Yes, No, or Some. Whatever the case, build an argument for your answer.