As I mentioned in my previous posts, low income communities are in most need of internet access yet they are the least likely to have access to it.
In 2015, 67% of U.S adults age 18 and older had broadband internet access, 41% of adults whose household income was below $20,000 reported not having access to broadband, and 91% of households with an income of more than $100,000 reported having access to broadband internet.
So, generally households that make less than $25,000 per year tend to face digital disadvantages, which is usually individuals without high school diplomas and/or from minority groups. Evidence also suggests that the gap between low-and high income households with a broadband connection has been increasing little by little in the past couple of years.
There are roughly 5 million households with school-age children that do not have access to broadband internet access at home, which means that millions of students are being left behind. This means that millions of students aren’t able to reach out to teachers, complete online coursework, or complete independent research, and their parent’s don’t have a direct communication line to schools and teachers other than a phone, which isn’t effective anymore whereas an email is. About 70% of teachers assign online coursework nowadays, so if a student doesn’t complete it during school hours or finds a location with Wi-Fi access they will not be able to complete this work.
The gap isn’t just about income, race needs to be added into the problem to further understand it. About 80% of White households and 92% of Asian households with school age children have broadband access. At the same time 72% of Black and Hispanic households with school age children reported having internet access. This leaves low-income and minority students to fight the digital divide in addition to the other obstacles that come with being low income and a person of color.
Image courtesy of Wix
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