Who's Not Online in America Today?

Pew’s “After the Fact” podcast host, Dan LeDuc, spoke with Kathryn de Wit, manager of Pew’s broadband research initiative, to hear about the challenges that communities face in bridging the digital divide.

There are between 21 and 162 million Americans without access to broadband. The vast majority of these unconnected Americans are in rural areas. This problem, however, affects communities of all types and locations, including urban, suburban, rural, and remote communities. There are parts of those communities that can have excellent connections while others either have slow internet or no internet connection at all. Unfortunately, connections don't just fly through the air. Infrastructure development across multiple policy areas and multiple levels of government is at the core of this challenge. The immediate impact of having a connection is that it offers opportunities that didn't exist before. Many Americans staying inside under stay-at-home orders and living in well-connected communities don’t consider the time of day they’re getting online, or whether they need to kick someone else off the internet to finish their homework. But for communities that have slow connections or no connections, that's a normal part of life. They can't access health care remotely. They don't have the luxury of ordering food and supplies online.