Exploring the Aspects of Digital Divide in a Developing Country

Abstract

The rapid development and diffusion of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) have fundamentally changed many aspects of life and societies around the world. ICTs, especially the Internet, have affected the way we all live, communicate, work, study, and socialize in many ways. Today, ICTs have become an integral part of the developed countries. ICTs have the poten-tial to support economic growth, to provide opportunities, and to increase democracy in develop-ing countries. Yet, many developing countries have not been able to take advantages of the oppor-tunities offered by ICTs. There are significant differences between developed and developing countries in terms of accessing and using the ICTs. That is defined as global digital divide. There are also different types of digital divide within a country, such as the gender divide, the age di-vide and the income divide. The main aim of this paper is to explore the digital divide in a devel-oping country, Turkey, and to highlight some approaches to bridge it.