Lots of talk about class wars everywhere right now! The 99% vs. The 1%! A millionaires tax and a billionaires tax! And so on. But now you know: the difference in between the haves and the have-nots? An iPad, obviously.
As San Francisco nonprofit Common Sense Media points out, not only are kids eight years-old and under spending more time than ever in front of their family’s iOS-powered gadgets, but as it turns out, if they’re poor, they spend no time at all in front of them. Common Sense Media, indeed! Via the New York Times:
The report also documents for the first time an emerging “app gap” in which affluent children are likely to use mobile educational games while those in low-income families are the most likely to have televisions in their bedrooms….It found that almost half the families with incomes above $75,000 had downloaded apps specifically for their young children, compared with one in eight of the families earning less than $30,000. More than a third of those low-income parents said they did not know what an “app” — short for application — was.
There’s obviously a good point to be had in this, which is: technological competency as a prerequisite for having any kind of chance in the job market could become less of a variable than it already is due to those who can afford technology as it innovates, and those who can’t.
In other words, The 99% and The 1% could become a gap of Everyone Who Has An iPhone and Everyone Who Doesn’t. If that’s not a class war worth watching (out for), it’s hard to tell what is.
fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek
