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The Growing Digital Divide in the Age of COVID-19
The digital divide is a growing issue in the United States. COVID-19 has only served to illustrate this challenge as the world has shut down and society has been forced to undergo a rapid digital transformation. This transformation is crucial for businesses to survive, for governments to operate (in some cases much more efficiently), for students to learn, and for dislocated workers to find new employment. However, just like the virus, the pandemic is shining a light on the discrepancies in access to this vital infrastructure.
Yesterday, I wrapped up a project here in Sacramento to provide free Wi-Fi using transit buses. Originally, the state was looking at this solution as a potential response to emergency events as we move into fire season. It came to life thanks to the combined efforts of all the partners in response to the shelter in place orders that closed schools across the state. Working together, we saw a way to pivot this initiative to combat the homework gap created by these closures in underserved communities that lack access to equipment and high-speed internet.
But it’s not going to be enough. While it is a good stopgap solution, the longer our society is wracked by the upheavals of COVID the more this divide will be exacerbated. If we’re going to ensure Americans of color can stay competitive in our digital society, then we need to know exactly what challenges they’re facing — and understand why it’s more important than ever to guarantee equal Internet access for all.
The Divide by the Numbers
Like many issues in the U.S., the digital divide does not affect all Americans equally. And like other issues, it disproportionately leaves people of color trailing behind. Indeed, of the Americans without home-Internet access, almost half are people of color. While smartphones and tablet computers have helped narrow the gap, White Americans are still significantly more likely to own a computer and have access to home internet. And among the 10 percent of Americans who don’t have any Internet access at all, Blacks and Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as Whites to fall into this category.
In the COVID era, when one’s education and livelihood can depend entirely on one’s ability to stay connected virtually, this divide can have devastating consequences. Whole swaths of minority Americans will be left behind if we don’t act now.
What the Digital Divide Means for Students of Color
Even before COVID-19, the homework gap was a serious problem made worse by the paucity of high-speed Internet access among the United States most disenfranchised populations. A quarter of all black teens reported an inability to complete all their homework because of a lack of reliable Internet access. A larger share of students of color also report having to rely on public sources of Wi-Fi, like my transit bus initiative, to accomplish their assignments.
Today, the situation is much worse. Internet access is no longer optional for our students. The majority of eighth graders depend on home Internet to do their homework. Only six percent report having never use home Internet for homework. But as Internet access becomes more and more mandatory, the digital divide continues to grow. Communities of the poor and people of color find themselves caught in a perfect storm of factors — with these students already struggling with the homework gap, and these groups disproportionately impacted by COVID, they’re being hurt even worse than they would by any of these elements on their own.
When schools are shuttered and students only access to their teachers and other academic resources is via the Internet, those students with reliable, at-home digital access are going to find themselves accelerating past their less fortunate peers. Meanwhile, our students who need the most support are getting the least.
What the Digital Divide Means for Workers of Color
It’s easy to imagine the immediate impact COVID has had on workers of color, already reliant on in-person work, but harder to imagine the long-term consequences. The historically unequal racial divide meant that prior to COVID remote work, such as using Slack, Zoom, and other digital platforms, was the privilege of an elite few. Just seven percent of American workers have a telework option. In part, it’s because historically the jobs people of color are found in are far more likely to be low-skilled and in the service industry, jobs for which creating remote options are more difficult. This is further compounded by the preexisting lack of Internet access and training among disenfranchised communities, meaning even when telework options exist these groups struggle to have equal access to them.
Bridging the Digital Divide
There is one viable solution to help bridge the digital divide. A solution that will benefit both students and workers of color, as well as all of America’s disenfranchised populations. To be successful and active participants in modern society all of us need free and equal access to the Internet. After all, do we consider a community without access to running water or electricity to have an equal voice in society as a gated community with all the modern amenities?
If we are to achieve this egalitarian dream, then the Internet should be declared a public utility, the same as all other resources we consider to be intrinsic to the well-oiled functioning of a society. It is as much the responsibility of the government to provide its citizens with reliable Internet access as it is to provide clean drinking water. This is not a fringe view. Growing numbers of people across the world, including the citizens of many of the world’s poorest nations, are coming to see the Internet as the powerful tool it can be for guaranteeing an equal presence on the world stage. We Americans need to add our voices to theirs and be the fulcrum on which this debate swings. Together, with one voice, we can help create a future that’s more equal for all.