Access

Socioeconomic status affects access to the Internet and social media by limiting people’s ability to utilize these resources. People with a lower socioeconomic status often have less access to these resources. Since Internet is not a freely given resource, it can be hard for some people to obtain it, and thus hard to utilize it. Even when people with a lower status are able to access the Internet through libraries, etc. they still may not be as adept to using it as are people with a higher socioeconomic status who have had more experience with Internet and social media through their ability to have the Internet on hand and easily accessible.

Access to the Internet and social media is important because it is how many people choose to communicate, and the number of people choosing to make this choice is only increasing. Everyday there are 2 million more people accessing the Internet. These days, people use the Internet for networking, socializing, communicating important messages, leisure, planning, researching, advertising, and countless other activities. It is important for people to be able to access these activities in order for them to be able to keep up with their peers. Without access to the Internet and social media, it could be hard for some people to keep up with things such as the most recent research on stem cells, where the after hours office meeting has been moved to, or what their friends across the country have been up to recently. The Internet is an important to for discerning and delivering information and many people use it as their primary source to get information out to other people, therefore its important that those other people also have access to the Internet and social media so that they can receive the information.

In order to support students who do not have access to the Internet at home, we could inform them of places that give free Internet access, such as many libraries. It would also be helpful to talk to schools about providing students access to on-campus computer labs before and after school. It may also be a good idea for schools to begin renting out laptops for a night to students, just as you would rent out a book, so that the student is still responsible for returning it, but is also able to utilize the resource when they need to. If these things cannot be done, we can support students without Internet access at home by giving them guidance on how to make the most of their time on the Internet when they are able to get to a computer with free Internet access. Also, we should teach life skills of how to get by without the Internet so that students will be able to plan ahead and communicate effectively enough that the Internet is not constantly necessary.