The trend of participation gap

Nowadays people are putting more emphasis on the use of mobile devices. With the development of technology and economy, various kinds of mobile devices are giving us a lot more opportunity to communicate with others as well as access the internet. In the field of education, most of the universities and colleges have introduced the high tech devices, such as iPads, into the lectures. However, not everyone has the equal ability to access the mobile devices. The different level of the economic capability and the education background has led to the differentiation and stratification of the way people use mobile devices.

Digital divide or participation gap?

According to the article written in 2007 by Kevin Guidry at Indiana University, digital divide and participation gap are two problems existing among mobile users in America society.

Kevin Guidry states that the digital divide still exists due to the fact that there are still a large number of Americans who can’t afford the computers or have internet access at home. Meanwhile, even people have had access to technology, the different experience with it may lead to the “participant gap” (Jenkins, 2006), which is not just mere access, but differing types of access.

I believe that the “participant gap” can better describe the problem among US mobile users, because in the society where almost everyone can have an access to the mobile devices in the public areas such the school libraries, the phenomenon of digital divide will no longer be a major problem in the near future. Now the issue is not just simply “have” or “not have”, but it comes more complicated to “how people use them”. The different experience of using the internet and the role mobile devices play in their daily life has strong influence to their attitude towards the technology. For example, people who have smart phones check their Facebooks and E-mails more frequently than people who use traditional phones or don't have one at all.

Mobile phone problems won't have much effect on the participation gap

Another article I read is about the mobile phone problems. According to the authors, Jan Lauren Boyles and Lee Rainie, the main problems phone users confront are dropped calls, unwanted sales or marketing calls, unwanted spam or text messages, and the slow download speed. In my opinion, the mobile phone problems won't have direct effect on participation gap because the problems of the mobile phones always exist, and they are just part of the experience while using the mobile devices for people who already have one. People's understanding of the technology won't be changed and their time of accessing the internet won't be signally diminished just because they confront these problems while using their phones. Also it's obvious that mobile phone problems won't affect those who don't have mobile devices.

However, some findings in the survey may predict that problem of participation gaps may be eased in the future.

The surveys in the article of show that the number of times people encounter the mobile phone problems is related to the type of phone they use and the race of the users. According to the graphic and the survey, Hispanic and African-Americans are more likely to have mobile phone problems than Whites, and maybe it’s tied to the fact that African-Americans and Hispanics rely on their cell phones more than the whites. Although there are still many Hispanic and African -Americans who can’t afford cell phones, it seems that they will rely on using cell phones to access the internet and make phone calls more than the white users if they have one.

Since the cell phone companies are launching new products all the time, the price of old smart phones usually reduce after the newest ones come out because of the severe competition won't allow them to keep high prices. And the phone price will continue decreasing in the future because of the maturity of manufacturing,  Once more people, especially those who may depend on mobile devices a lot but can't afford them temporarily, can have their own smart phone, the problem of participation gap may be diminished because the opportunity for people to access the mobile devices will be equal so that they will have similar experience of accessing the internet and using the high tech devices.