Untitled - socium.ge

The digital divide in Detroit 255If use theInternet, connectUse a computer Use the Internet from homeOdds ratio:highest groupto lowest 9.986 14.163 14.667Employment statusWorking now (%) 85.2 77.7 86.9Not working now(%) 59.6 54.2 85.5Odds ratio:working now tonot working 3.900 2.947 1.131Family structureChildren at home(%) 80.1 74.9 90.2Children not athome (%) 70.4 62.5 83.3Odds ratio:children at hometo no childrenat home 1.691 1.793 1.835LocationCity of Detroit (%) 66.1 56.3 70.3Suburbs (%) 77.5 71.5 90.1Odds ratio: suburbsto city of Detroit 1.771 1.948 3.860Internet. Nearly three-quarters (74.1 percent) of those with less than a highschooldegree use the Net from home, if they use the Net at all, while thecomparable figure is 93.4 percent among college graduates. These findings arealso comparable to national patterns.Income is the single biggest predictor of computer and Internet usage in theDetroit area, consistent with findings from other studies (Castells, 2001;DiMaggio, et al., 2004). From the lowest income category (under $20,000)through the highest ($50,000 and more), the growth in computer and Internetusage is astonishing – from roughly 23–35 percent to over 80 percent. Forexample, more than three times as many in the highest income group connectto the Internet, compared to those in the lowest income group. Odds ratiosgreatly favor those with high income. 2As in other studies, employment has a large impact on computer andInternet use, although over half of those who are not working now use acomputer and use the Internet. Nonetheless, 85 percent of those who are