Member-only story
To Connect — Or Not to Connect?
I work with a publishing house that, like many other companies, is trying to move as much of its workforce as possible into virtual situations in response to the coronavirus pandemic. I became aware this past week of something of a scramble to find a laptop for a woman in Purchasing to take home with her. When I asked what had come of it, the response was, “It doesn’t matter; she doesn’t have an Internet connection.”
I was a little shocked to hear it. I know, of course, about the depth of the digital divide — back in the late 90s and early aughts I was writing PSA scripts for organizations like the Boston Foundation, Tech Goes Home, Tech Boston, and the Urban League, raising awareness of the problem and its implications for social justice. And I know the divide is still there, that it has if anything gotten worse, and that current efforts in the pandemic to teach remotely have only underlined the disenfranchisement of so many children on the wrong side of the divide.
But that’s not the issue here. I know this woman. She lives in a suburban area well-served by Internet providers and could afford to be connected to them. She has, apparently, chosen not to be.
