Internet Access and Equality
By Albert B. Kelly
As we approach the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, many will
turn their thoughts to community service and serving others because no matter
what you think of MLK, his life and legacy, the underpinning was always
service. It was not just service to one group or another, but service to all
acknowledging that the nature of that service would necessarily differ from
person to person and group to group.
The other thing MLK was focused on and what we focus on
today is equality. I realize that equality as concept comes in a lot of forms
and shapes and there is no single magic bullet to address inequality, but that
may be a good thing and not a weakness. I say that because the very idea of
equality can intimidate and frighten just as inequality can anger and enrage. I
think much of this has to do with the mistaken belief that equality means
taking something from the “haves” and giving it to the “have nots”. But it’s not
a zero-sum game and it’s about redistribution.
Equality, at least to my mind, is mostly about access and
opportunity. It’s about ensuring that all people regardless of their race,
ethnicity, gender, orientation, or religion have a fair chance, equal access,
or the opportunity to fail or succeed. It is not about ensuring someone’s
success, but ensuring that a person has a fair shot to do either of these on
their own merits. This is a wholly American idea and one that I think a fair
number of reasonable people can get behind.
If there is to be an allocating of resources, it should be toward
ensuring equal opportunity, a fair shot, but not what a person does with the
opportunity. It might come in the form of school facilities, books, equipment,
teachers, training, or whatever else constitutes opportunity or access.
Understandably, the target might be a moving one, changing with technology or
the economy or the marketplace so we need to understand that it’s not a
one-size-fits-all proposition.
One example in the Bridgeton community involves internet
access whether by computer, smartphone or whatever. This became apparent to me
while skimming an article in NJ Spotlight by Collen O’dea. In that piece, NJ
Spotlight sifted data from the Census Bureau and the American Community Survey
from 2013 through 2017. The upshot is that there is a “digital divide” so that
New Jersey’s urban cities and isolated rural areas are much less likely to have
access to the internet than their fellow-citizens in the suburbs.
Drilling down, the analysis found that in Salem, Bridgeton
and Atlantic City fewer than 73% of households had either a computer or
smartphone as compared to more than 98% of households in the wealthier suburbs
of north and central Jersey that had at least one such device. This is part of
why libraries are so critical- they provide access and opportunity- and you
don’t have to buy anything.
As far as dial-up, broadband/cable, DSL, satellite or
cellular data plan; less than 60% of households could go online in Bridgeton,
Salem, Camden, Trenton, and Perth Amboy. Lakewood is mentioned as well but the
article notes that these lower percentages may be due to lifestyle choices by
members of the Orthodox Jewish community there. In contrast, in 17 of the wealthier
suburbs in central and northern Jersey, a full 95% of households could go
online – they had access and opportunity.
Wisely, the article frames this issue of internet access to
the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income, Constrained, and Employed) Report which looks
at the ability of households to afford basic life necessities. This is matters because
until recently, the government and everyone else treated internet access and
the devices that enable access as a luxury- not a necessity. This was the first
year in which census officials provided information on computer and internet
usage by municipality and that’s a good thing.
Why does it matter? Because internet access is how people
apply for jobs. The days of walking into a store or a business t and asking for
a job or an application are largely over- you’ll be told to go to the website.
Without internet access or the devices enabling access, people cannot apply for
government benefits, check social security info, or do any of the basic
functions that have migrated online. Equal access is now measured in code- it’s
a digital thing- requiring a new conversation. Go figure.