Mobile Problems Reflect Participation Gap

A study by Pew Research Center provides information that helps illustrate a participation gap with mobile users.

According to the study, the majority of adults have cell phones (88%). The problems experienced however vary wilder from dropped calls to slow download speeds. The difference in problems experienced by the participants surveyed develops the idea that the different problems occur because some people are less knowledgeable about the technology and use it for different reasons.

Ethnicity affects the participation gap.

The study revealed that non-white cell phone owners “confronted all four problems at somewhat higher weekly rates than do their white counterparts.”  The research center offered a reasoning that this cause may be due to the fact that African-Americans and Hispanics are “more likely than whites to rely on their cell phones as their primary or exclusive phones for calling and for internet.” The participation gap is evident when analyzing problems occurring between cell usages among different ethnicities. Minorities may not have home computers or landline phones and rely heavily on their cellular devices.  Problems could also occur because minorities may not have the same knowledge of the National Do Not Call Registry, which would free them of all the spam calls and unwanted texts.

Smartphones may increase the participation gap.

Smartphone users observed more problems in each category compared to non-smartphone users. The research said that there was statistically significant difference between smartphone users and non-smartphone users in the categories of dropped calls, spam text messages, and slow download speeds. This finding illustrates the participation gap because as phones become more evolved, people will experience a lag time, during which they will have to learn new methods of using the technology and ways to avoid problems. The time when people are learning the new skills and ways of using smartphones will create a participation gap which will show how previous owners pick up the new technology with ease, as compared to the new learners who will take longer to learn.

I predict that the participation gap will expand when new technology first comes out, but will get smaller as the population adapts to how to operate the technology.

Companies will be continuously putting out new devices and operating systems on the market for the public to buy. As the technology gets more and more advanced, the learning curve will take longer. I predict that the participation gap will be at its peak during the time when the products are just released. As time goes on, people will become accustomed to operating the new device and the ways it can be used, therefore the participation gap will be closing. My opinion is that participation gaps fluctuate depending on how long technology has been used by the public.