The Digital Divide is Alive and Well

When I was working on my master’s degree, we learned the term “Digital Divide.”  I didn’t know what it was at first, but it was one of those AHA moments.  One of the pictures in an article I read that has always stayed in my mind was a high school-aged girl sitting by a parked school bus in the dark, with her textbook and her laptop on her lap. She was sitting in a circle of light from a streetlight, all alone, trying to do her work. It was gut-wrenching. According to Stanford University, the digital divide 

“ refers to the growing gap between the underprivileged members of society, especially the poor, rural, elderly, and handicapped portion of the population who do not have access to computers or the internet” and those who do. 

I instantly understood the term, because of my own upbringing.   When I was little, we did not have a tv. I’m not sure why my parents chose not to have a television in our home, but we didn’t.  In school, it was always weird when everybody talked about what they watched on TV and we didn’t see it.  Once, my parents had to go to school and talk to my sister’s teacher because she was supposed to watch something between cartoons every Saturday and she couldn’t do that.  (It may have been “In the News” you can watch it here:  https://youtu.be/Y2niAlg4WOc)

It was embarrassing. It wasn't comfortable. It was hard to say in front of your whole class “We don’t have a TV.”  My parents made sure that we had all that we needed – they always found money for Scholastic book orders, although I’m not sure how.   We listened to records, we always had books, but we were not a technology-rich house. We never had an Atari and never had cable until we moved to Clewiston in 1985. When everybody else wanted their MTV, I didn’t even hardly know what MTV was.

Now, there are students who have TV’s in every room and 187 cable channels, but still may not have an educationally technologically rich home.  I have said for years that there are children in our county who are technologically poor – and no one listens. The last time I was on a textbook selection committee, I had data that showed nearly 85% of the students at my school did not have consistent internet access and a device on which to access the internet. Some had limited internet access – until the data on the phone ran out. That was several years ago, but is it any better now? Are there still students in our schools that do not have access to computers or the internet at home? Absolutely. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to get people who work in a building with Wi-Fi, and walk to a car with Wi-Fi, (where their smartphone connects to the car) and go home to a house with Wi-Fi to understand and/or believe that everyone doesn’t live like that. 

But enter COVID-19, aka Corona Virus aka “the Rona.”  All of a sudden, we need children to have devices at home to complete work.  But hardly anyone says, “Oh wait, a device by itself doesn’t help.”  I can deploy laptops all day long – a device all alone isn’t the answer. There is a bigger issue here. 

As a single woman with one income, a significant part of my budget is internet access. That is a conscious decision and choice that I make. Unfortunately, some parents don’t see the need or maybe absolutely cannot afford that same choice I make. Yes, I understand there are programs to help, but is it enough? I don’t know. 

I was very excited (and got very emotional) to see these posts from two churches:
 

ATTENTION PARENTS AND STUDENTS: New Home has been set up as a public Wi-Fi hotspot for students. If you do not have Wi-Fi access at home, you can park in our parking lot on the LEFT side of the church and access the FREE Wi-Fi. The network is "NHBC_WiFi_OPEN_ACCESS" and will be available from 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM. According to county and state orders, you will need to remain in your vehicles while doing your schoolwork. You are in our prayers as you complete this school year. Our address is 5130 Elmore Road (Hwy 14), Wetumpka.  (That's my friend's church!)  

Churches are trying to help bridge the digital divide, which is ironic since we keep church and school very, very separate. But it seems like churches are stepping up to help more than some school districts are.

I don’t know the answer. I know every time I put books in my public library’s dropbox, there’s someone sitting there in the dark, connected to the library’s network. I know my county is working on wifi on buses to park in neighborhoods.  But I know there are kids at my school who feel like I did when I was a little girl, but instead of not having a TV, they don’t have a computer, or they don’t have internet access. And they are missing out and are getting more and more behind. Unfortunately, it took a virus to make some people realize this.