From the 1990s to the early 2000s, the phrase 'digital divide' saw its popularity peak. Now that less is heard of it, has the divide been bridged forever? The issue of access seems not to be as big a problem now as it appeared back then. With smartphone technology, the availability of cheap consumer electronics, and improving wireless technology, getting more people online seems only like a matter of waiting. If the present trend continues, it won't take very long before almost everybody on the planet becomes a part of this massive network. The question that's now beginning to be asked is whether merely having access to the technology means having bridged the divide, or if we should be concerned about new technological divides based on differences in patterns of access, gains in productivity, improvements in the quality of life, and the way in which modern communication promotes desirable societal and political goals?
One of the world's first fully functioning computers was developed in 1941 by a German inventor named Konrad Zuse, who also described Plankalkül, considered the forerunner of modern programming languages. His work went unnoticed for a long time in the non-German-speaking parts of the world. Had it been otherwise, the language of computing could possibly have been German rather than English. As it turned out, many of the more widely recognised and disseminated advances in computing came from the English-speaking world. English had other advantages too. At the dawn of the computer age, English had already been introduced to vast stretches of the world by the British Empire. It was then helped by the United States becoming the dominant global centre of economy and culture after the Second World War and the Cold War. The end of the Cold War opened a global market for the likes of MTV and CNN, and with them the English language. However, when it comes to the proliferation of English, nothing comes close to the immense spread, rate of adoption and effect of the internet.*