Internet Is NOT the Great Equalizer

I recently heard a well-known American influencer and motivational speaker say that she became successful due to sheer determination and an internet browser. She uses these facts to motivate others and eliminate their excuses to rise to her (or any) level of success. The underlying message is that if she can do it, anyone can. Like me, you may have heard similar rhetoric such as, “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!” These types of statements negate the fact that many people do not have bootstraps—some do not even have boots! However, her statement sheds light on the connection of success and the internet. Is the internet the great equalizer?

Less than 50% of the world uses the internet (Siapera, 2018 p. 68). Although a number of factors contribute to this outcome, we must be familiar with two substantive elements of the demographics: income and education.

Income: “The more income one has the more likely one is to be online” (Siapera, 2018, p. 73). Income also determines the quality and speed of the internet service that one has access to. People in low-income brackets who cannot access the internet are not afforded the opportunity to shape the future of the internet. The graph below illustrates the contribution of income to this disparity with internet use.

Education: “Low educational attainment is linked to lower income” (Siapera, 2018 p. 75). It is no surprise, then, that college graduates are more likely to be online. The graph below illustrates the contribution of education toward this disparity of internet use.

The internet divide exists for younger students as well. Nearly one in five students from kindergarten to 12th grade do not have access to computers or internet connections (Anderson & Perrin, 2018). Data compiled from the Pew Research Center in 2018 explain that this “homework gap” disproportionately affects low-income families and people of color (Anderson & Perrin, 2018). In the event the coronavirus becomes a global pandemic, this will only magnify the gap illustrated in the table below.

The educational divide is so closely related to income disparities that it is easy to see that one is an extension of the other. The TED Talk below provides some insight to the roots and impact of this interconnectedness—the lack of access by structural design.

These realities bring Marshall McLuhan’s statement to the surface, that the medium is the message. He highlights how the medium—or form—shapes our experiences in life. McLuhan expressed how the medium is not neutral; it is comprised of both possibilities and constraints. What message exists here? How does this form shape the experience of the poor and/or uneducated and shape their identity?

These are aspects of the medium for the technical communicator to ponder. Since we use media and technology to provide user-centered information, we are required to test existing theories and evolve the media we communicate through. We are communicators at the core, therefore, we aught to be concerned with our audiences—what they like and dislike, who they demographically are and are not, and how media effects them.

Hope is not lost. There are resources available to help narrow these gaps. Here are just a couple:

• The Federal Communications Commission provides subsidies for low-income households to access the internet at home, albeit with slower connection. (Siapera, 2018 p. 75)
• For classrooms that have internet access but lack the correct level of technology, PBS and WEDU offer free resources that align with state standards. Check out this link for Florida K-12 educators.

The irony in the statement that all one needs to succeed is determination and an internet browser lies in the fact that millions of people cannot hear (access) the message. Our challenge is to help find ways to evolve the internet to equality in access.

Works Cited

Anderson, M.; Perrin, A. (2018). Nearly one-in-five teens can’t always finish their homework because of the digital divide. Fact Tank News in the Numbers. Pew Research Center. retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/26/nearly-one-in-five-teens-cant-always-finish-their-homework-because-of-the-digital-divide/

“How America’s public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner.” (2016). TED. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/7O7BMa9XGXE

Perrin, A.; Duggan, M. (2015). America’s Internet Access: 2000 – 2015. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/06/26/americans-internet-access-2000-2015/

Siapera, E. (2018). Understanding new media (2^nded). London: SAGE.