Digital Divide among Undergraduate Students: A Survey of District Srinagar and Kupwara in J&K State

Abstract

The Digital Divide, also called the Digital Split, is a socio-economic issue referring to the differing amount of information between those who have access to the Information through various means and those who do not have access. The term became popular among various stake holders from various disciplines such as scholars, policy makers, and social activists across the globe in the late 1990s. The present study tries to understand the digital divide among the undergraduate students of Kashmir division of J&K state of India. The scope of study is limited to two Districts viz. District Kupwara and Srinagar. The study tries to find out various factors beyond the digital divide among the students studying in rural and urban areas, and provide ample solution to minimize the same. The research was conducted using survey method, for data collection, questionnaire method of data was applied. The research revealed that male students are way ahead in making use of digital media as compared to female and the students from urban background make more use of digital content as compared to rural students. The major reasons for disparity in the use of digital media (internet) is lack of infrastructure viz. broadband, wireless internet, awareness and lack of training institutions for rendering training in rural areas s compared to urban areas.