Bridging the digital divide: Report on focus groups with low-income urban and rural residents in Pennsylvania

In recent years, the growth in technology and new media has created a communications revolution that allows people instant and equal access to previously unavailable or difficult-to-find information. Despite this proliferation,, however, there remains a gap, a "Digital Divide", between Americans who have access to technology and those who do not. According to the most recent report from the Department of Commerce(1), only one-quarter of those making less than $15,000 a year have computers. White households are still more than twice as likely to own a computer than Black and Hispanic households. In addition, 60.2% of adults with only a high school degree and 87.2% of adults with less than a high school education currently do not have access to the Internet. This divide in access, especially in relationship to finding health information, is a substantial barrier to underserved audiences who are already at greatest risk for poor health outcomes.