The technology gap has proven itself to be a difficult gap to close, even in my personal life. Relatives, friends, and colleagues alike, often are just not interested in new technologies. This makes advancing new technologies extremely difficult. There are also people who cannot afford the technology. This is usually a more difficult problem to address.

The newer and better the technology gets the farther behind the people around me become. It seems that when people finally make the jump into the technology frontier, they think that time and place is the end all and be all. This often seems to be where the technology divide starts, when people stop caring and are just happy with what they have. Technology does not stop, it continuously gets better. The only answer to handling the technology divide for people that don't care is to make it better and easier than before. Getting people to advance in technology is often just a matter of convincing them that it's worth it. A great example is the IPod. When the iPod hit the market we had had other mp3 players for years. The IPod sparked a cultural revolution for digital media and for personal music players. The only reason for this was because of the ease of use. The iPod did very little that other mp3 players hadn't done before, it simply did it better and easier. If all technologies could follow after the iPod, then the technology divide would be much smaller.

The next reason, which I have experienced personally, is the in ability of some people to afford technology. Often, I or people I have met have refrained from buying bigger and better technologies due to lack of money. Groceries or a new computer? This often turns out to be a revolving door, better trained technologists and computer users often make more money. The other issue people with low funds face and often over looked, is that they have no time. Using technology takes time; for training, upkeep, and just staying in the loop with what is new. The only good answer to help people catch up and stay up to date is to increase their quality of living. I don't care who you are, if you are busy finding food you don't give a crap about typing skills, or if you have to work 12 hours a day to make ends meet, you probably aren't worried about the next great processor.

The digital divide is not a simple problem, if someone would like to solve this problem they will need more than just a pile of computers. Governments, people, and corporations need to find out how to keep the average person interested with technology and we all need to help improve the quality of life for everyone.