The Digital Divide Is Between Those With Geek Friends And Those Without?

from the different-problems dept

While there's been plenty of talk about the problems of the "digital divide," the Guardian has a (tongue-in-cheek, of course) article noting that the real digital divide may be between those who have geeky friends who can help them when their computer acts up, and those who are stuck on hold with tech support or in line at a nearby tech repair shop. Of course, the reporter didn't do all that much research. At the end, he suggests a great business would be one where you can hire a geek to come help you with tech problems -- which is most certainly not a new idea at all. However, these geek house call businesses still haven't proven to be big moneymakers. Many of them have gone out of business.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Mar 2005 @ 1:37am

    No Subject Given

    The problem is that by being a Geek Friend a lot of the time you're enabling people to stay technologically helpless. Many geeks are born from frustration of having to cope with those same expensive helplines for help. I learnt how to fix things because it was better than having to deal with people.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.