In the late 1990s, there was a lot of talk of the "digital divide" which was considered to be the perceived disadvantage of those who did not have access to the internet. To me the real digital divide began in 1979 when the Sony Walkman, the first "portable" music player, first became available. That was actually an analog device, being a cassette tape player, but it was the first in a long line of personal music players bringing us to where we are today with ubiquitous iPods, Zunes, and all manner of MP3 players. The divide to me is the ear plugs so many of us have stuffed into our ears when we are outside in what used to be called "society" or "community". Riding trains, sitting in coffee shops, walking the streets, for some reason we shut ourselves into our own little worlds and separate ourselves from those around us and the possibility of a serendipitous meeting with a stranger. That's the fly in the ointment of all these wonderful new digital devices we have in our contemporary lives. That to me is the real digital divide.