In my last post, I wrote about Dr. Jack Geller of the University of Minnesota and his research into Internet and broadband adoption in rural areas of his state. Minnesota has made remarkable progress this decade at extending broadband access. In 2001, only 6% of rural homes had a broadband connection. By 2010, 68% had one. But older citizens have not joined the party. Overall, almost 70% of Internet non-adopters are 65 years of age or older.
A great deal of attention is paid to digital inclusion of the elderly – for perfectly good reasons – but I believe that the digital exclusion of another group is far more important. That group consists of the chronically poor: those with low income, poor education and little prospect of any improvement in their lives or those of their children. Entrenched, multi-generational poverty is a stain on the life of communities everywhere, but most of all in the industrialized nations with their immense wealth and power to affect the lives of citizens. The causes are multiple and complex. Being a member of an ethnic or racial minority with a history of exclusion increases the odds but is hardly conclusive. More powerful are culture, personal expectations and day-to-day habits. Such poverty persists because the conditions for it are created anew when each child is born. The cycle of poverty is refreshed each morning in the mind, through habits of thought and feeling that are stronger than chains. The British have a wonderful phrase to describe their problem population: "not in work." They might just as well say "not in the world," at least as the rest of us define our existence.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Intelligent Community Forum (ICF)
Author: Robert Bell
