Despite the Obama administration dumping billions of dollars into expanding the reach of the Internet to American citizens, and nearly 98 percent of the country's homes now having access to some form of high-speed broadband connection, nearly 20 percent of Americans still don't use the Internet.

According to the New York Times, an older generation of Americans who have never owned a computer or smartphone are having trouble justifying the cost of jumping on board to the digital revolution. The study came about as a result of administration officials discovering that nearly 60 million people were being shut out from jobs, government services, health care and education. Without everyone being able to function on the Internet or even a computer, the government has noticed a gap in computer literacy becoming a gap in social and financial inequality.

"The job I'm trying to get now requires me to know how to operate a computer," said Elmer Griffin, 70, a retired truck driver from Bessemer, Ala., who was recently rejected for a job at an auto-parts store because he was unable to use the computer to check the inventory, according to the NYT. "I wish I knew how, I really do. People don't even want to talk to you if you don't know how to use the Internet."

The lack of a uniform standard of digital literacy is also leading to a gap in the racial divide in the U.S. According to a study called "Exploring the Digital Nation," done by the Commerce Department in the summer of 2011, 76 percent of white American households use the Internet compared to 57 percent of African-American households.

"I am cheap," said Craig Morgan, 23, a self-employed carpenter from Oxford, Miss. So far, he has made do without the Internet at home, but while he has used a smartphone to connect, that has limitations, he said.

"When we came home from the hospital with our new baby two months ago," the hospital "took pictures and put them online," he said. "We had to go to my in-laws to order them."