Kids and Technology: The Digital Divide

We used to worry that the digital divide meant that rich kids would get access to lots of technology and poor kids wouldn’t and are left behind as careers require more and more tech skills.

The reality is reversed.

Rich families are limiting kids access to technology and are spending money on old-fashioned toys or old-new hybrids like mostly-wooden toys that teach coding without a screen.

Poor families are relying more on technology to cover for busy parents and limited options. Studies in the US have found that richer teenagers have far less screen time than lower-income teenagers. One US state has launched an online preschool, designed for parents who can’t afford traditional preschools or live too remotely.

It is telling that while tech companies are pushing their products into schools, many of the leaders of the tech companies want their kids in screen-free schools (such as the silicon valley Waldorf).