Mind The Gap: Mobile Devices in Politics

Looking at differences between the digital divide and participation gap

Although both the digital divide and participation gaps are problems in an always evolving technological world, I believe currently in the U.S, we are far more influenced by the latter, that being participatory gaps. The digital divide focuses more on the inequality of ownership of internet ready devices whereas the participation gap bases it's theory around the fact that there are discrepancies with the comfort level and ability people have with different technologies. However the participation gap is a direct result of the digital divide. In my mind about 4 years ago there was a clear digital divide, and although we may have been able to bridge the inequality for the most part as a result of less experience a participation gap is now clearly evident. 

Voter data is helping to show a decrease in the digital divide

Guidry utilizes the examples of a lack of computer ownership in minorities specifically Latino's and African Americans as well as illustrating the point that close to a third of college students still don't have a personal computer. However, this data is somewhat dated and according to more recent findings done by the Pew Research Center on mobile data and politics I would be more inclined to say that America has evolved from the digital divide and is now facing a participatory gap. The data which polled over a 1000 voters of different political and demographic backgrounds came back with a findings that 88% of voters had a cellphone of some sort and about 50% had smartphones. In fact democratic voters who usually include more of the minority had a higher percentage of smartphone ownership that those affiliated with the republican party.

American voters help illustrate participatory gaps in American smartphone users

The biggest differences in the study where seen when the data was broken down into different demographics which showed that the those aged 18-49 and those who had received college educations were both more likely to use their smartphone for election related uses out of all voters who had smartphones. To me this illustrates that there is a clear difference in the ease of use of technology. A younger audience and those who have received  college educations have probably had more interaction with these technologies and as a result also use them in ways past their basic uses that someone less technologically proficient would not be able to. 

What's in store for the future

If the market for mobile devices continues the way it currently is then we could see the digital divide almost disappearing completely resulting in a shortening of the participation gap. As technology continues to improve there are more and more smartphones that are becoming cheaper in fact most large carriers have internet ready phones free when you get a contract. Currently these smartphones are becoming more accessible and in the next 3 to 5 years if more and more people have access to these devices the participation gap should being to shrink. Overall I think we can expect to see a tangible increase in mobile audiences across america in the coming years.