Research

Today, there is a large digital divide in New York City. The majority of New Yorkers use a mobile connection and a home connection, and they increasingly need both to make full use of the internet. Mobile connectivity is especially critical for people who commute to service jobs or for those with unstable housing, while a connection at home is essential for doing homework or applying for a job.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) vetoed a bill which would have directed the state to study whether a state-owned and operated internet service would be feasible in New York. Gov Cuomo said it was “well-intentioned” but that it would be too expensive to complete. Still, Gov Cuomo suggested that he isn’t opposed to the idea of municipal broadband. The governor said in Dec 2019 that he and lawmakers might revisit the idea of a feasibility study on municipal broadband in early 2020.

Social perception bias is best defined as the all-too-human tendency to assume that everyone else holds the same opinions and values as we do. That bias might, for instance, lead us to over- or under-estimate the size and influence of an opposing group. It tends to be especially pronounced when it comes to contentious polarizing issues like race, gun control, abortion, or national elections. Researchers have long attributed this and other well-known cognitive biases to innate flaws in individual human thought processes.

Only about a third of California households in rural areas are subscribed to internet service, compared with 78 percent in urban areas, according to an EdSource analysis of data from the California Public Utilities Commission. The divide between students who have access to internet and computers required to do assignments at home and those who don’t is known as the “homework gap.” And it threatens to slow down efforts to close the gap in educational opportunities between students in rural regions of California and their wealthier counterparts around the state.

It's no secret that the Federal Communications Commission doesn't have the best track record when it comes to measuring broadband. “The Commission must make more robust changes to accurately understand the state of broadband access and adoption across the country,” Access Now, Benton Institutue for Broadband & Society, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and other organizations say in a filing with the FCC.

The Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act unanimously passed the Senate. The bill would:

1. Social media sites have emerged as a go-to platform for connecting with others, finding news and engaging politically. 
2. Around the world and in the US, social media has become a key tool for activists, as well as those aligned against them.
3. Smartphones have altered the way many Americans go online. 
4. Growth in mobile and social media use has sparked debates about the impact of screen time on America’s youth – and others.
5. Data privacy and surveillance have become major concerns in the post-Snowden era.

As of 2019, nine-in-ten U.S. adults say they go online, 81% say they own a smartphone and 72% say they use social media. Growth in adoption of some technologies has slowed in recent years, in some instances because there just aren’t many non-users left, especially among younger generations.

Almost 20% of Americans are still on 3G networks – even as many of these networks face decommissioning next year, according to Opensignal. Only 4.1% of the approximately 30 million Americans who still use 3G do not have a 4G-capable device. This is “unsurprising,” according to Opensignal, because most carriers have sold nothing but 4G-capable phones for years as a way to accelerate the move of subscribers away from older networks. In all, 83% of users still served by 3G have 4G-capable devices but do not have a 4G plan.

States are playing a crucial role in efforts to expand broadband to the 21 million to 163 million Americans who still lack access to this critical service, encouraging broadband investment and helping to bring more of their residents online. To close gaps in access, almost every state has established broadband task forces or offices to centralize their efforts and many have set up dedicated funds aimed at reducing the number of state residents who lack broadband access.