Abstract

Youth and Digital Divide in Cochabamba. Unequalities in Access and Use of New Technologies. Punto Cero [online]. 2009, vol.14, n.19, pp.29-41. ISSN 1815-0276.

Abstract The article discusses the conceptualization of digital divide as unequal access to Information and Communication Technologies. Analyzing the data collected by a survey called: “Youth in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Their leisure time and their access to information and communication technologies”, it synthesizes the issues that express most clearly access, knowledge, and use divides. Although ICTs became an indispensable tool for everyday life for most youngsters, they express, reproduce and produce social inequalities. The digital divide adopts diverse avatars that plant their roots in socio-economic grounds (unequal connectivity), gender (“screen fright” and differentiated uses), and age issues (new technologies are still youth technologies), amongst others.

Keywords : digital divide; ICTs; youth; information society.

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