Broadband internet adoption barriers include lack of social support
August 31, 2009
The final 37 percent of Americans who do not have home broadband internet access are hindered in many cases by a lack of training and social support in using technology, according to the Federal Communications Commission's broadband initiative.
The final phase of adoption will be a challenge. Many non-users are elderly, African-American and rural Americans who lack the skills for accessing broadband internet.
The FCC, in a public workshop last week on low adoption and utilization and programmatic efforts to increase adoption and usage, addressed this topic.
Non-adopters will not be able to fully access broadband internet until they have the social infrastructure of family, friends and neighbors that is already using broadband, FCC adoption and usage director Brian David said in a post on Blogband, the FCC blog.
Social infrastructure trains and supports non-users as they figure out a new technology - in many cases, how to use a computer for the first time, David said.
Successful adoption programs have high personal interaction in the initial stages, feature content that is accessible to the user and an end goal of helping people see broadband as a tool to enrich life.
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