Children and Computers

In recent years, government, scholars, and the media have heralded the emergence of a new social problem, the digital divide. This term refers to the phenomenon of unequal access to personal computer technology, a divide separating families who have computers and access to the Internet at home from families who do not. People who already suffer economic or social disadvantages are likely to experience even worse problems in the future because they are being excluded from a computer revolution that is redefining social and economic life in our society. Children's education has become a focal point in discussions of the digital divide. If computers are powerful tools for learning, then children who lack access to computers in their homes or in their schools are likely to suffer serious disadvantages that may change the way they learn throughout their childhood years. …