Reaching into the digital divide: Technological use of computers by African American male youth in the American south

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how the computer is utilized in the daily lives of seven African American male youth in the southeastern region of the United States. Critical pedagogy was selected as the theoretical framework using Paulo Freire ideas of problem-posing education to promote awareness towards using the computer other than for entertainment purposes. Data were collected from three individual semi-structured interviews, samples of participants work, and a focus group that was video recorded. The data were analyzed using the phenomenological methodology as described by Moustakas (1994).;In 1994, the digital divide was describe as how people of, "lower socioeconomic status were unable to access digital networks as readily or easily as more privileged groups" (Banks, 2012). A decade later, those that were identified as not having computer access, now have access and therefore, the gap has narrowed. Since then, the definition of the digital divide has changed to how these groups are using the computer. The findings of this study explained how African American male youth have computer access to various locations such as at home, school, after-school, and other places. In addition, this study reveals how computers influence their lives. Furthermore, this study describes the participants' experiences as they learn how to create a computer video game. The study resulted in essences that lead to major meanings of African American male youths' experiences of computer usage. These are (a) computer access, (b) play computer video games, (c) learning how to type, (d) curriculum related activities, (e) computer use total time per week, and (f) learn more about computer video game development.