Digital Divide

This week reading about the digital divide shocked me in many ways. For me, this isn’t something I have put much thought into ever. I’ve always had wifi and access to a computer if needed. The first thing I was surprised about was how many people don’t have the option of even getting wifi. The fact that there are so many small towns, etc. that don’t get wifi even if they wanted it was very surprising to me. I realized that there are people in the world who don’t have wifi or know how to use a computer, but I hadn’t really ever thought that there were small towns that wanted wifi but didn’t get it because wifi companies didn’t want them to have it. This pandemic has also shed light on this digital divide as well. Seeing little girls having to go to a Taco Bell just to get wifi to go to school was very sad. It really makes you wonder during this time what all the children without access to wifi or computers are doing to go to school? When their schools can’t provide them with computers or wifi are they just not attending school or what is happening? Will they fall far behind in school? I also learned that the digital divide is really setting up people with lower economic status’ to fail in our society. The fact that in order to even apply for a job at Taco Bell you can only do it online seems a bit ridiculous. No one cares to think about if that’s possible for everyone, and instead just assume it’s an easy thing to access because for some it is. However I have learned that it really isn’t as easy for a lot of people like most assume. All of this also makes you think of all the people who don’t know how to use a computer (younger and older ages). So many of our day to day things are online only, so what about those people who don’t even begin to know how to use a computer? We are simply leaving them behind and don’t care to even think about them. The fact that we assume it’s easy for everyone to have wifi or access to a computer seems a bit ridiculous. Because as we’ve seen, there are many people who have much more to worry about like paying for electricity or a place to live.