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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 A new survey suggests that the digital divide has been replaced by a gap in digital readiness.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."

25 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. We all know that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    technology is always progress, and never, ever, going backwards in any possible way.

  2. Funny by sootman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because in my circles, it's the smart people who don't trust the Internet.

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    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.)

    2. Re:Funny by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Depends on what you mean by trust... if you mean you think you should encrypt sensitive information and observe security precautions when dealing with money, personal information, etc... then that's just prudent.

      However, there are some that don't trust the internet as a medium in and of itself. And I would argue that that is a problem.

      --
      I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    3. Re:Funny by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It reminds me of a quote from The Godfather II:

      Frank Pentangeli: Your father did business with Hyman Roth, he respected Hyman Roth... but he never *trusted* Hyman Roth!

      . . . just replace Hyman Roth with The Internet . . .

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    4. Re:Funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not just about information you find. It's also about the technology itself.

      Computers these days come with browser that have default-enabled Javascript, Flash, Silverlight, Unity[1], Java, and who-knows-what-else. You can get 0wned just by clicking on a link, even an advertisement on an otherwise legitimate site.

      Some people are fluent in computers, and trust them. Other people are wary because they don't understand comptuers. But, experts are wary because they do understand computers.

      [1]Unity Web Player didn't exist back when I switched from Windows to Linux, so actually I don't know how prominent it is today.

    5. Re:Funny by vandelais · · Score: 3, Funny

      You must be new here.

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      Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
    6. Re:Funny by funwithBSD · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It is more like a U shape, with Distrust on the vertical and Knowledge on the horizontal axis.

      One end does not trust the internet because they don't know what is out there,

      the other end does not trust the internet because they know what is out there.

      Those in the middle are just knowledgeable enough to be dangerous.

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    7. Re:Funny by freeze128 · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's getting harder and harder to even RESPECT the internet....

    8. Re:Funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is why I laugh so hard at the guy at work, who refuses to write procedures or tools to do critical tasks. "Just look it up on Google" is his answer to everything.

      It's most fun when he looks up the answer on Google, claims he has it, and I explain that he doesn't have it. He argues, and I make him scroll down to who actually *wrote* the top answer that Google provides, and show him where he misread what I wrote there.

      This.... just makes my day when it happens. It happens less often now, he's learned to check the attributions and to take my claims more seriously. But it's awfully fun.

    9. Re:Funny by Oligonicella · · Score: 3, Insightful

      More fun, reading AC comments claiming to be authorities.

    10. Re:Funny by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My kids' school, they ban using Wiki for research.

      (Personally, I'd think that a perfect jumping-off point for teaching the difference between primary and secondary sources, critical reading, and source evaluation. But hey, what do I know, I'm not a teacher.)

      --
      -Styopa
    11. Re:Funny by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My kids' school, they ban using Wiki for research.

      (Personally, I'd think that a perfect jumping-off point for teaching the difference between primary and secondary sources, critical reading, and source evaluation. But hey, what do I know, I'm not a teacher.)

      Uh, they probably ban it because it's a secondary source. You are fine at using it for a jumping off point, but that's all you can use it for - to jump off.

      You're not using wikipedia for research, you're using it for the background in order to do research.

      And it also means you don't copy and paste Wikipedia and hand it in )adding plagiarism to the all sorts of badness).

      Because you know kids would. Banning it probably is easier to describe to them, but any smart kid would just use it anyways and hide the fact that they used it by going to the original sources. *gasp* Research!

      It's the same as it was back in the old days where we were banned from using the encyclopedias. No one said we couldn't do it on our own time and then use the references in our final work...

  3. or don't trust the Internet by darkain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And those who are extremely educated fall into the "don't trust the Internet" group quite easily. How many security exploits do we need before people stop trusting in various internet services? But not trusting it doesn't mean we stop USING it! We simply alter our actions on the internet.

    1. Re:or don't trust the Internet by dublin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Only a fool "trusts the Internet" - especially Wikipedia.

      It's funny, the other day, I was hanging out with a group that included several pretty top-level IT and networking folks, including some leading CS academics. Not one of us uses internet banking, or allows access of any kind to any of our financial accounts over the net. On the rare occasions that companies force the use of the Internet, the general response is to enable access only long enough to do the job, then destroy the Inet access account (best), disable net access (2nd best), or set the password to random gibberish that even we don't know or keep a record of. This forces a long, manual process to "reenable" the acccount that cannot as easily be done by an impostor. None of us "trust" the Internet, I guess.

      That was a real eye-opener for some of the younger "Internet-savvy" group, who all of a sudden realized that maybe they were opening themselves up far more than they realized, especially in a world where every WiFi network, even with WPA2, is now as open as the one at Starbucks...

      --
      "The future's good and the present is nothing to sneeze at." - Roblimo's last ./ post
    2. Re:or don't trust the Internet by AudioEfex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Precisely.

      If you don't pay your bills on the Internet, you are a fool. Why? Because your bills are being paid online anyway, even if you are idiot enough to send a check, which is the most dangerous thing you can do with your financial info.

      You write a check, with all the info needed on it to completely wipe out your checking account (and savings, too, if you have overdraft "protection") on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope that couldn't more clearly scream "THERE IS A CHECK IN HERE" unless you literally wrote that on the outside, and it goes through many hands before getting to its destination which isn't even the company you are paying. If you look at most national account bills (credit cards, cell companies, cable providers, etc.) they all go to the same few places (usually somewhere in the middle of the country like IL) called "lock boxes" where a minimum wage worker opens your envelope, scans your check digitally, transmits the info to the respective banks, and completes the transaction electronically anyway. Oh, and they are supposed to shred it afterwards. You hope.

      The real problem is attacks on back end systems, or assault on terminals, like what happened to Target. Most of the time (almost all) fraud that happens on indivdual online accounts is by someone they know - usually a spouse or child. So if you don't trust them, or can't outwit them with passwords on your system, you have a much larger personal issue than lack of security on the Internet.

    3. Re:or don't trust the Internet by TapeCutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Where were you hanging out, the paranoia ward at the local hospital? - And get off my lawn before I call my luddite attack dogs.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  4. Re:And this surprises... who? by dougmc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Many "grandmas" have embraced the Internet.

    For example, this study from two years ago says that more than half of senior citizens now use it. They often don't know how to use it well, granted, but they're using it. And many of them *do* know how to use it well.

  5. I'm not digitally ready. by edibobb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm not ready to embrace new Windows 8 technology. I'm not ready to manage my finances on an insecure Android phone. I'm not ready to spend uncounted hours ingesting inane trash on social networks (unless there's a member of the opposite sex involved, naturally). I'm not ready to browse a web dominated by animated ads and twisted news. I am a obviously a Luddite.

  6. The glass is half full! by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    70% of Americans are ready for the next generation of technology!

  7. Re:And this surprises... who? by SydShamino · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Most senior citizens (those 65 or older) became senior citizens since 1995, when the web started taking off. Many became senior citizens after 2005, when it had mostly saturated middle-class households.

    It's not so much that granny embraced the internet, it's that she embraced the internet and then aged into being "granny".

    --
    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  8. That statistic can't possibly be valid by Eric+Smith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    nearly 30% of Americans either aren't digitally literate or don't trust the Internet

    For that to be true, over 70% of Americans must be BOTH digitally literate AND trust the Internet, which is impossible since anyone who trusts the Internet is not digitally literate.

  9. Re:I tepidly disagree... by fisted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I trust the Internet as a transmission medium -- so long as I'm using solid encryption.

    So you do not trust the Internet as a transmission medium.

    --
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  10. Re:I tepidly disagree... by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    He trusts the internet will deliver the packets. He doesn't trust that someone else won't try and read them along the way.

  11. Re:I tepidly disagree... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    > He trusts the internet will deliver the packets.

    With the NSA impersonating facebook's servers, looks like even that minimal level of trust is misplaced.