Rural America is Still Technologically Behind. Why it Matters More than Ever.

Overview: The COVID-19 pandemic created an immediate need to pivot to technology for the delivery of behavioral health, education, and basic services. Rural areas of the United States often found the lack of access to adequate internet support created significant barriers and further increased inequalities between wealthier and poorer communities.Proposal text: By March of 2020, much if not most of the United States entered into COVID-19 responses that included closing schools, businesses, and limiting access to services such as food, shelter, health and behavioral health services. The pivot-to-technology timeframe was small; as short as a few weeks. Public and private entities alike scaled back or shutdown completely to retool services with the hope that the worst of the pandemic might pass and the nation could resume operations similar to before COVID-19. This didn't happen.

Now over two years later, we've learned that many services have remained internet-based, and much of the US information economy is now based on the need for effective, dependable, affordable high-speed internet service. Online or hybrid access to primary and secondary education grew exponentially along with health care, behavioral health care, social services, food and medicine delivery, and even political participation all changed. The problem is, millions of US residents were not ready, nor capable of becoming ready for these changes due to the lack of access to high-speed internet service, technological illiteracy, lack of affordability for necessary hard- and software. Individually, each of these challenges presented great problems across large populations. Combined, many were left behind and have yet to fully recover.

This presentation focuses on the stated problem viewed through a rural lens. in a paper published in 2015 by the presenter, problems associated with a lack of high-speed internet access across rural United States suggested that rural regions were falling further behind and becoming more technologically isolated. Using the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 as a federal policy example of how isolated areas were connected to more populated areas in the past, the presenter argued for a new "Rural Broadband Act" and to treat it as a basic infrastructure need. While the pandemic did increase technology access and participation, this problem remains today. Currently, over 27.5 million (22%) of US residents lack home internet service, and an additional 265,000 have dial-up service only. A high correlation between poverty and internet access in rural areas exists, with the lowest rates of internet access found in Western and Southern states with high rural populations (e.g., MS, AR, AL, LA, OK, NM). While significant upgrades have occurred, large areas of the US continue to struggle with limited to no access to DSL, cable, or fiber infrastructure based on current broadband availability data.

Negative impacts based on the rural/urban digital divide identified during the COVID-19 pandemic were predictable. Schools needing to create online learning scrambled to cobble together solutions, which unfortunately for many remain temporary or unstable. We learned that due to the inadequate technological infrastructure, discrimination against some populations amplified far over others. People continue to need a plethora of services (e.g., food and medicine delivery, health care, social services, education, social connections) but even now, too many are still limited due to lack of adequate internet access. The presentation ends with policy proposals and offers suggestions on how to better connect people to necessary technological resources.