The Electronic Divide

First of all, I am not alone in this. Secondly, it is becoming increasingly apparent that among the other divisions we have in our society: race, economics, class, we now have a new way the poor the elderly, and the dsadvantaged are going to be cut out - Electronics. This first became apparent to me during the Covid epidemic when everyone was forced to use on-line access to register for immunization. Shockinly to me, I couldn't get immunized at my doctor's office or the hospital to which she is connected - we could only get signed up ON-LINE. Fortunately for me, through my years in education I had already learned enough to be able to wade through this rubble strewn stream to register at every recommended county/state/national site. Never did I recieve any information from any of them. It was as if I had sent a message in a bottle. Finally, an even more experienced and possible more intelligent or perhaps more connected friend sent me a link through some My Chart portal to register and I got my shot.

Meanwhile, my brother in West virginia, a life-long working class ironworker who lives in the mountains without internet access or any electronic experience whatsoever was shut out entirely although he was in the endangered age group, as was I and he was also a veteran! No, the Veterans associations could offer him no help with this situation and could not offer him vaccination either - you HAD to register electronically. Fortunately on his way home from yet another futile attempt to get some help with this, he stopped at the Liquor store and the woman at the counter used her computer to get him signed up.

If you didn't have a grandchild who could maneuver this land- mine field, you were out of luck! Remember, during Covid the libraries were closed.

Not everyone can afford home internet or a home computer, or even a smart phone. My brother had none of these. He is retired and lives on a meager social security income that pays enough for food and utilities, car insurance and taxes but does not afford cable and internet service, also he lives in the mountains in West Virginia AND he is visually impaired!

So let's stop and think about visual impairment for a minute; one group I left out is the aged, a group to which my brother and I both belong being in our 70's. My vision is failing and my brother's is very poor and has been most of his life. Old people, the very ones most in need of the vaccination were the group MOST likely to have visual impairment and financial limitations. And I can tell you from having taught community education classes back in the 1990's and early 2000's, many people who have never typed or used any kind of electronics were very hampered in progressing with this new skill.

After the pandemic, when people tried to get jobs, they found themselves shut out because all employment was suddenly behind the gatepost of the the internet. You couldn't fill out an application and get an interview anymore, even for unskilled or low skill labor - all jobs were behind the electronic fence of the internet. And to make it more insulting there were headlines about people not wanting to work! They wanted to but they couldn't manage the electronic mine-field of electronic application, even for jobs like Wawa clerks and Diner waiters.

This doesn't even touch on the huge portion of the population with literacy problems and perceptual impairment! So lets talk about how disabled people are also left out in the cold in this brave new world of electronics.

I am in support of the screen writers strike because AI is about to take over writing the pablum that makes tv series these days. The AI uses previously written plots to get the pattern and churns out the crap that is modern entertainment.

Ok, I have let off steam. I was angry because my sister has to attend Drug and alcohol counseling because of a DUI and I had to give her an old laptop, which we took to a computer shop to pay to have zoom put on because neither of us could manage it, and then when she tried to log on at home, there was some problem with one of the many mysteries of internet access - something to do with a firewall. Now my sister is a culinary expert and an expert landscaper and I am a three college degree expert in literature, art and teaching. Neither of us could wade through the obstacle strewn field of this electronic nightmare. Finally her son was able to get her set-up in an old i-phone she had. Her new android phone wouldn't work either. Logged on to her session, the chaos you might expect did in fact ensue - people couldn't get the camera right, get the mute and unmute sorted out and got so frustrated they cursed and got kicked off. Those who don't complete the on-line counselling may have to go to jail. Maybe in jail they will teach them how to navigate this new elecronic world.

At the same time, the SODAT office that used to handle these issues with in-person counseling sessions and drug testing, has been shut down, so there is no alternative to the on-line version.

I am surprised more journalists aren't talking about this but, of course, they are already expert at maneurveiing the zoom world and they don't apparently know enough people in the "lower classes" to have seen first-hand the fall-out from it.

This new "Smart World" is in fact, an inhumane world and further disadvantages those who are disadvantaged. Sadly, I see no escape, at least for the existing generations. I suppose the younger people raised in this world will be more adept at managing it. I hope so, although reports of the ravages of social media and on-line counseling via AI have already been making that look like a fool's hope.

Don't get me wrong, there are good aspects and I am writing this on a blog, after all, but, the downside is huge and glaring. And by the way,libraries are closing down left and right, so where are people supposed to go for computer access who don't have it at home and can't afford it? This is the unforseen Brave New World and 1984 we have been fearing. That's enough ranting for me for today. I am going to the real world to walk my real dog in the Climate Crisis Heatwave that is also wreaking havoc on us.

By the way, I didn't even begin to rage about PASSWORDS! I just joined a new gym and suddenly was confronted with the specter of registering for classes online. I created an on-line account with password and failed at registering becasue it didn't like my password, or my new password, and even after a second phone call I had to persuade the desk clerk to register me.

Jo Ann