Access to information might be the most critical need of the modern era. And yet, in Allegheny County, nearly one in five households lack at-home-internet, and about 13% don’t have computers.
Over the course two years of work-from-home and remote learning, the critical need for eliminating the “digital divide” has sharpened dramatically. There have been various programs launched to help expand internet and technology access across all regions, including $65 billion in President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package.
More locally, a new partnership among AT&T and the nonprofits Digitunity and Computer Reach is working to raise money to improve access and to place computers in the hands of people who need them, while providing digital literacy training to help bring anyone left behind into the information age. It’s a worthy goal.
Residents can help by donating old, unneeded devices lying around the house — and possibly make all the difference in the life of a child or a family.
AT&T is investing $2 billion toward bridging the digital divide through 2024. Computer Reach has already placed donated computers with 146 families. That’s 146 families who now have home access to the world wide web, which, for better or worse, is absolutely essential for full participation in the modern economy. Thousands more could benefit from similar assistance.
It’s easy to toss out any device that isn’t the latest and greatest as obsolete junk. Tech corporations encourage this with techniques like planned obsolescence and a consistent, gleaming array of updates that are really only incremental improvements, at best. We have become conditioned to go for the newest possible devices, lest we be left behind.
As a result, Americans are throwing away millions of tons of electronics every year. In 2014, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that included over 400,000 mobile phones every day. And according to the Global E-Waste Statistics Partnership, in 2019 Americans produced nearly 50 pounds of electronic trash per person.
This can’t continue. Aside from the environmental problems created by this waste, there are organizations eager and willing to repair, refurbish and repackage old tech and distribute them to those looking for their first home device. Anyone with usable-but-replaced tech devices can and should assist by seeking out programs like Computer Reach and Digitunity. This will change lives for the better.
First Published: February 20, 2022, 11:00 a.m.