We Must End the (Reverse) Digital Divide!

Well, this is a some great link-bait schlock.

Some of the more obvious problems:

First, the “divide” would probably be significantly narrowed if race were cross-tabulated with age. Mobile Internet numbers skew heavily towards younger populations, and the 2008 median age of white Americans (38.2) is significantly older than that of African Americans (31.4) and Hispanic Americans (27.7). If white American's weren't so blessed with better health outcomes and a longer life expectancy, we wouldn't have so many over-the-hill Luddites pulling down our iPhone stats.

Second, a few more points get shaved off by the Rural/Suburban/Urban factor: relative to white Americans, the Hispanic population is skewed enormously urban, and the African American population skews somewhat urban. Obviously, mobile Internet usage is higher in urban areas for reasons that have nothing to do with race: coverage and use cases.

Third, even without the first two points, you've got to remember that mobile internet is a leapfrog technology, which allows individuals who have not historically had home computers and home broadband to skip from 1980 straight to 2010, without wasting their time trying to slog through the '90s. It shouldn't be surprising that mobile numbers could take hold in populations with lower broadband rates, and this should be seen as both a modest marker of success of the mobile Internet and an indictment of the failures of the broadband era, not as a chance to throw a cheap shot at the digital divide (unless I'm misreading your tone).

Finally, as in many issues of social justice in America, race in the digital divide is in part (but not entirely) a proxy for poverty and education. The categories with the greatest disparities in your chart, on both the mobile and the broadband side, are in the area of income and education level. While mobile has flattened the graph quite a bit, there is still quite obviously an enormous divide and a lot of work still to be done.

This is obviously satirical, but I also think it represents a problematic line of thinking that doesn't hold up to closer inspection of the numbers.

Some of the more obvious problems:

First, the “divide” would probably be significantly narrowed if race were cross-tabulated with age. Mobile Internet numbers skew heavily towards younger populations, and the 2008 median age of white Americans (38.2) is significantly older than that of African Americans (31.4) and Hispanic Americans (27.7). If white American's weren't so blessed with better health outcomes and a longer life expectancy, we wouldn't have so many over-the-hill Luddites pulling down our iPhone stats.

Second, a few more points get shaved off by the Rural/Suburban/Urban factor: relative to white Americans, the Hispanic population is skewed enormously urban, and the African American population skews somewhat urban. Obviously, mobile Internet usage is higher in urban areas for reasons that have nothing to do with race: coverage and use cases.

Third, even without the first two points, you've got to remember that mobile internet is a leapfrog technology, which allows individuals who have not historically had home computers and home broadband to skip from 1980 straight to 2010, without wasting their time trying to slog through the '90s. It shouldn't be surprising that mobile numbers could take hold in populations with lower broadband rates, and this should be seen as both a modest marker of success of the mobile Internet and an indictment of the failures of the broadband era, not as a chance to throw a cheap shot at the digital divide (unless I'm misreading your tone).

Finally, as in many issues of social justice in America, race in the digital divide is in part (but not entirely) a proxy for poverty and education. The categories with the greatest disparities in your chart, on both the mobile and the broadband side, are in the area of income and education level. While mobile has flattened the graph quite a bit, there is still quite obviously an enormous divide and a lot of work still to be done.