Lesson 2 Global Challenge
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Clemson University *
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MISC
Subject
Geography
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
docx
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2
Uploaded by DrMorningSparrow32
1.
Describe one
real-life example of how the Digital Divide impacts the "world" - as you choose to define it. Since this page already does this, you do not have
to introduce or define the Digital Divide.
2.
There are efforts to “solve” the digital divide problem at the international, national,
state, district, school, and individual teacher levels.
●
Choose one
of these levels and discuss what is happening to alleviate the problem.
●
How effective
is the solution you discussed?
The first thing that comes to my mind with a real-life example of the Digital Divide
is COVID-19. During COVID-19 almost every school across the world that had technology went to a fully online school. This was very helpful for those schools that did have access to this technology because it allowed for the students to not fall behind in what they were learning and essentially pick right back up where they were before it was a pandemic. Although it had its technical difficulties overall it was the best solution, especially in comparison to those who didn’t have access to technology at all. This was a huge issue for those schools or even just students who didn’t have internet or technology access because either they fell behind while their teachers and peers continued learning or the entire school had to pause where they were learning. Many governments mandated that people stay home which didn’t give schools the opportunity
to come into school if they didn’t have technology. There wasn’t another simple solution to getting your school education if you didn’t have access to technology at the time.
In South Carolina, there have been huge efforts to help contribute to closing the digital divide problem. South Carolina invested a total of $480 million from state and federal funds to bridge the gap, particularly in rural communities like the town of Sharon (Eskieva, 2022). They recognized the importance of solving this problem as a state after
the pandemic and have been increasing the efforts to help since. There have been hundreds of thousands of houses that have gained access to internet access since 2021 (Eskieva, 2022). So, their solution so far to put money into helping has been extremely successful and I can imagine will continue to succeed. One ethical dilemma that is associated with attempting to solve or mitigate the Digital Divide is that the more technology in the world the increased waste that is created. This has a hugely negative effect on the environment and is a trade-off from solving one global problem to making another global problem worse. Although this solution is helping more people currently gain access to technology and internet it will in
the future harm our society because of the environmental health declining. Technology can produce this specific type of trash called technotrash, also called electronic waste or e-waste, is any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic device, and is currently the most rapidly-growing type of waste. (How Technology Can Harm the Environment, 2020). I think this trade-off would be very controversial depending on the people who it
is affecting. If you ask someone what they would prefer who is gaining access to technology they wouldn’t care about the environment, but if you ask someone who has had access to technology their entire lives they would probably say the environment is more important today. 100,000+ households now have high-speed internet in rural South Carolina communities
. (2022, October 5). Wcnc.com. https://www.wcnc.com/article/tech/high-
speed-internet-rural-households-sc/275-97985c48-97dc-403f-9053-
090ead7932c9#:~:text=The%20pandemic%20highlighted%20a%20need
How Technology Can Harm the Environment
. (2020). Www.exploros.com. https://www.exploros.com/summary/how-technology-can-harm-environment
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