People who Misuse the Internet
Today, many companies like AOL and Yahoo are making the Internet easier to use, by "dumbing down" the Internet, making it more accessible to the average consumer. While in theory a good idea, it is causing serious side effects. One aspect that "dumbing down" the Internet creates is: Internet Navigation helps users find what they are looking for by clicking a series of buttons. Although making simple Internet searches easier, uneducated users can inadvertently be swayed by information from advertisements. Young children with the click of a few buttons can access pornography sites from the prevalent adult banners. It is analogous to letting a four year old into an Adult store, leaving them there and allowing them to search for as long as they want. The simple typing of the word "girl" on Excite's search engine will bring up various Adult links, as will many other innocent words.

Because of this danger, children should be monitored and prevented from bringing up links that are damaging and can skew their idea of the Internet. It would be a tragedy to bring up a new generation of Internet users who think of the Internet as a portal for pornography instead of understanding what it truly can and should be used for.

Consumers
To educate new users to avoid misuse of the Internet is a vital step, but the education is not complete. One of the greatest advantages of the Internet is e-commerce. The ability to purchase products online greatly increases efficiency, but if the user has not been taught about the power of e-commerce they are still not ready for the Internet. Much like phone orders, e-commerce is subject to impulse buying. Once again, the non-Internet savvy person will see a product they want and purchase it without thinking of the consequences. The Internet provides a layer of abstraction that can mislead consumers into thinking of it as a computer game. Add to it the slew of propaganda and marketing, and you create a trap that many people will fall into.

To combat this misuse people must be taught about techno realism. People must learn that just because it is on the Internet, it is not fact. An intelligent consumer can sift through the Internet to find meaningful and worthwhile data. Instead of just being directed by marketing and succumbing to the pressure to purchase, a consumer must guard their wallets as if they were in a physical store as opposed to a virtual one. Giving people the Internet is not enough to bridge the digital divide, one needs to make sure they understand what it means: one must create intelligent consumers.

Producers
But is the final benchmark to make sure everyone is an intelligent consumer in order to pronounce that we have bridged the digital divide? To make available to everyone the opportunity to learn how to intelligently use the Internet is a huge accomplishment, but not the final solution. To really create equality all citizens should know the merits and means to produce content using the Internet, whether it is web pages or products. This is the goal of Plugged In, to build consumers. "It is one thing to help a student access the Internet, but it is wholly different from teaching a student to interact with the Internet. This is what we are trying to help students accomplish, to use the Internet as a tool to produce," Magda Escobar, Executive Director of Plugged In commented. Even before students are Internet aware, Plugged In begins to teach them the benefits of technology.

In the Plugged In Greenhouse (for ages 4-9), they are creating a virtual amusement park. Most of the creation is painting posters and coloring pictures, but they receive help from older students to scan their posters and put them on the web page. They currently are preparing to have a grand opening of the amusement park, both on site at Plugged In and a virtual park on the Internet. Although many of these kids are not ready to become Internet producers, they are already learning about what is possible.

By far the best example of Plugged In's goal is Plugged In Enterprises, a web page design company that is comprised of high school students. If interested, a student may become an intern and, after school, learn how to build web pages. After a year, they can become paid members of the Enterprise team. Through this branch of Plugged In, students learn about technology and receive work experience. This is what bridges the digital divide, giving all students the ability to become Internet producers. Plugged In is creating a new batch of technologically savvy young adults from a community that historically has been behind the technology curve.