Closing the digital and economic divides in rural America

This photo essay confirms that rural areas like Staunton (VA) are in critical need of high-speed broadband networks for economic and talent development, especially as access to technology has become the lever to avert the expected outcomes of poverty and social isolation, at least for vulnerable populations. Digital exclusion comes with costs. Rural residents are at risk of being marginalized in an information-rich economy where digital transactions and commercial sharing services are becoming more relevant. Already facing diminished life chances, people with lower incomes, people of color, the elderly, and foreign-born migrants in rural areas run the risk of being on the wrong side of the digital divide that further exacerbates their economic, social, and political marginalization. While Congress has recently called for increased funding earmarked for rural broadband infrastructure, Staunton businesses, entrepreneurs, and residents must work with what they have now. It’s expensive to bring high-speed broadband networks to rural America and the private sector has not been fully incentivized to accelerate deployment, especially in areas where the return on investment is not as obvious.

Whereas the digital divide has been historically viewed within a binary context of the haves and the have nots, it is much more complicated. It behooves the nation to not only rethink public policies and programs on this issue, but also to reconsider what value we put on how access to technology helps or hinders citizens in achieving their part of the American Dream, or at least what’s left of it.