What It’s Like to be Underconnected to the Internet and Worried About Returning to Remote Learning

Advocates for better and more affordable broadband are relatively pleased with the infrastructure bill's broadband components, even if the new legislation doesn’t go as far as they want. Improving access is especially important for families with school-age kids, as the Delta variant spreads and outbreaks of COVID-19 may cause schools to pivot back to remote learning for weeks or months. It’s particularly worrying for families who struggled to stay online during remote learning in 2020-2021—for families like Janice Myers’. Myers’ story shows what daily life is like when families with kids have unreliable internet access and inadequate devices, as well as the numerous roadblocks to getting help. Here, she talks about the importance of connecting not just to faster networks or new devices, but also to people who know how to help and understand where she is coming from. And she points out that parents and caregivers may not have access to scanners, printers, or other digital tools for sending documents required by registration systems. She hopes the new legislation will recognize this instead of making it even more difficult to get the resources her kids need.