The “digital divide” has been a concern of policy makers since the middle of the 1990s when the Internet emerged as a major communication medium and information utility①. Anxiety about the divide centers on arguments that those who do not have access to the Internet are disadvantaged compared to Internet users for a number of reasons. The concern is that Internet non-users will have， among other things， less power as consumers and fewer economic opportunities， less access to high-quality health information， fewer options for dealing with government agencies， no chance to learn about their world from the millions of organizations and learning centers that have posted their material on the Web， and less opportunity to interact with others through e-mail and instant messaging.
There are many reasons for people who have not used the Internet which has something to do with the different situations of different countries and different people.
The U.S. Internet population has grown across the board since our first major survey about the digital divide in April 2000. At that time， 49% of American adults had Internet access. In the survey in the spring of 2002， 58% of Americans adults reported using the Internet. Between mid-2000 and mid-2002， every demographic② group gained ground in access. As the size of the U.S. Internet population changed， the distance among some of the different population groups has narrowed. Still， for the majority of demographic groups， the size of the gaps between them has remained the same since our last survey. And it should also be noted that our tracking data have found that the growth of the Internet user population has slowed if not stalled since late 2001.
Overall， 42% of Americans do not use the Internet. And there remain clear differences among five demographic dimensions③： race， income， educational attainment， community type (rural， suburban， or urban) and age. Whites are more likely to have access than African Americans. Well-to-do families are more likely to have access than less well-off families. People with college degrees are more likely to be online than those who have high school diplomas④ .Those who live in suburban and urban areas are more likely to have Internet access than those who live in rural areas. And those who are young are much more likely than those who are old to be online.
① utilityn. 效用，实用，功利[U]
② demographicadj. 人口统计学的
③ dimension n. (长、宽、厚、高等的)尺寸
④ diploman. 毕业文凭，学位证书
谁还没有上网
自从20世纪90年代“数字化引起的分化”已经引起了政策制定者的关注，因为在当时，互联网已经逐渐成为通信和信息产业中的主要手段。同因为种种原因而使用互联网的人相比，那些没有使用过互联网的人们在各方面都明显处于劣势，这成为人们对数字化引起的分化产生忧虑的主要原因。在所有的问题中，令人关心的是比起使用互联网的用户来，非互联网用户的能力更欠缺，经济上的机遇更少，获取高质量健康信息的途径更少，对政府机构的选择权也会更小，没有机会通过那些已经将它们的信息粘贴到互联网上的数百万机构和学习中心来了解自己周围的世界，当然与那些已经使用电子信函和快速通讯手段进行交往的人们之间联系的机会也就更少了。
人们不使用互联网的原因有多种，这与各国或各人的情况有很大关系。
自2000年4月以后，整个美国的互联网用户的数量呈现出逐步上升趋势。当时，49％的美国成年人都安装了互联网访问接口。2002年，58％的美国成年人在报告中说他们正在使用互联网。从2000年中期到2002年中期，每个团体都已经安装了地面接口。随着美国使用互联网人数的变化，不同人口群体之间的差距已经缩小，尽管如此，对于绝大多数团体而言，他们之间的差距没有什么太大变化。而且自从2001年下半年后，如果认为互联网用户增长的趋势没有停止的话，那么至少这种进程已经变得缓慢了。
总体说来，仍然有42％的美国人还没有使用互联网。在5个不同的统计空间中依然有明显的差异：它们是种族、收入、接受教育水平、社区类型(乡村、郊区或者市区)和年龄。白人比非洲裔的美国人上网的可能性更大。同贫穷的家庭相比，富裕家庭拥有因特网接口的可能性更大。比起高中学生来说拥有大学学位的人上网的可能性更大。与居住在乡村的人相比，居住在郊区或者市区的人们更有可能安装互联网接口。比起老年人来年轻人更有可能上网冲浪。