Access

As shown in the readings, socioeconomic status affects access to the internet and social media. There is a technology gap based on socioeconomic status which prohibits many without the funds to have access to the internet. The first article showed a significant gap between income and access to the internet. Because the article was written in 2002, I am curious as to what those numbers would be today. It would not surprise me if those numbers had already drastically increased. As far as income affecting social media groups I do not totally agree with what the last article was saying. I think one of the main differences in Facebook and Myspace users is age, not income. Most everyone I knew in high school was on Myspace, and as soon as we found out about Facebook from older siblings or other friends, everyone began to shift to Facebook, regardless of socioeconomic status. I guess though, that manny began to switch to Facebook when they got to college, and if people couldn't afford to go to college, then maybe that is why they never really caught on to the Facebook trend. Twitter on the other hand, I associate more with upper class because of its popularity with celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and John Mayer.

Access to social media and the internet are extremely important in this increasingly developing world. As much as I like to fight this, the world just keeps moving faster and faster and if you don't have the means to technology, you can't keep up with it. To deny people who are already of lower socioeconomic statuses access to these technologies would only put them lower and lower economically. Most every high paying job requires use of the internet and other social media.

I find that it could be difficult to support students without access to the internet at home. Because knowing how to use technology and social media is becoming necessary to survive economically in this world, I would have to somehow teach my students how to use it while in the classroom. There would have to be a lot of collaboration with other teachers and fund raising to help my students have access to the internet. I would hope that my school would have a computer lab, and if so, I would fully utilize that lab whenever possible and make sure students have access to that lab. Its sad to think that a huge chunk of students don't have computers or access to the internet at home like I always have. I can not imagine surviving without my computer and feel that in the past it may have been a luxury, but now it is becoming more of a necessity.