About 15 to 20 years ago, many techno-experts were worried about a digital divide, separating those who had the wherewithal to have high-speed Internet access from those who couldn’t afford it. Poorer folks would not (these experts said) get the full educational benefit the Internet could provide. Now, it appears the digital divide has closed somewhat—but experts are a little dismayed as to how folks are using broadband connectivity: To (gasp) play games. Well, folks do more than play games with their high-speed connections, of course. They download videos and stream television shows and hop on Facebook…all classified as entertaining time wasters that don’t do anything to foster education or digital literacy. Of course, poorer youth aren’t the only ones using the Internet for entertainment. Rich kids use it for frivolous reasons, too; but it still frustrates researchers who hoped the Web might wind up being a sort of equalizer in terms of educational access. “Access is not a panacea,” says Danah Boyd, a senior researcher at Microsoft. “Not only does it not solve problems, it mirrors and magnifies existing problems we’ve been ignoring…We failed to account for this ahead of the curve.” (New York Times)