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30% of Americans Aren't Ready For the Next Generation of Technology

Posted by Soulskill on from the controlling-potatoes-with-your-brain dept.

sciencehabit writes: "Thanks to a decade of programs geared toward giving people access to the necessary technology, by 2013 some 85% of Americans were surfing the World Wide Web. But how effectively are they using it? A new survey suggests that the digital divide has been replaced by a gap in digital readiness. It found that nearly 30% of Americans either aren't digitally literate or don't trust the Internet. That subgroup tended to be less educated, poorer, and older than the average American."

1 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Funny by dougmc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There's a difference between blindly trusting random crap you find on the Internet and not ever using it at all.

    At least in my circles, the truly smart people fit into neither category. That said, if you must pick one or the other ... the latter is preferable.

    But that's a false dichotomy ... even better is being able and willing to find things on the Internet, but having the wisdom to tell what's crap and what might be crap (and therefore needs to be confirmed) and what's probably accurate (but keep in mind, it still might not be.)