The Racial Digital Divide Among Adults Remains Very Large

As reported in last week’s edition, the gap in computer use between black students and white students in the K-12 years appears to be narrowing, particularly when they are in school. Yet the racial digital divide remains very large for the population as a whole. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 69 percent of the adult white population use computers compared to 52 percent of adult blacks. Some 65 percent of adult whites use the Internet compared to 46 percent of adult blacks.