Reframing the digital divide: From barriers of internet non-use to gradients of use — Case study of a Southern U.S. city

Prior studies on the digital divide have focused on different aspects of digital inequity but have yet to develop a cohesive framework to methodologically examine the digital divide at multiple levels. Recognizing the need for a more integrated approach, our work first synthesizes three levels of the digital divide into a cohesive framework ranging from non-use to gradients of use and maps these dimensions to socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, race) to identify digital inequities. Second, we demonstrate the applicability of our framework by operationalizing each level using a novel statistical approach to create profiles of internet non-users and users based on the dimensions of divide. Finally, we present a case study based on survey responses from 2186 adults, primarily from underserved urban communities in Nashville, a large Southeastern U.S. city, to show how the empirical results from this approach can inform actionable interventions and policy changes that promote digital inclusion.