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Effects of Economic Inequality on Access to Computer Equipment and Training

Ian G. Rowe & Alonzo Machiraju

CST462S: CST 462S: Race, Gender & Class in The Digital World

Cassandra Eccles

October 19th, 2021

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Introduction

In this day and age, access to a computer and the internet is almost mandatory for daily

life. With it, people check when businesses are open, schedule appointments for reasons both

medical and professional, and apply for jobs and government assistance alike. All these things

are vitally important for economic and class mobility, and yet such services are not always

available to those who need them the most. This is especially true for the most economically

disadvantaged, who in many cases outright need computer equipment and service that they

cannot afford due to issues of homelessness and other forms of social insecurity that inevitably

result from low income. This is a primary example of how economic barriers to entry can lead to

the cycle of poverty being perpetuated among underprivileged sections of society.

Literature Review

There is significant correlation between an individual’s social class, whether that be

economic, racial, or gender based, and their likelihood of being able to effectively access or use

computers or similar devices. This has been shown by studies done on the general public

regarding their access to, as the paper puts it, “Information and Connection Technologies”

(Goedhart, Broerse, Kattouw, & Dedding, 2019). In this paper, the researchers showed that if an

individual was female, unemployed, poor, poorly educated, or was of non-western descent, then

they were dramatically more likely to not use the internet than their peers which did not have

these traits (Goedhart et al., 2019). Some of these trait comparisons indicated that users were five

times more likely to be unable to use the internet than their peers in the above comparison

(Goedhart et al., 2019). This paper also paid special attention to the ability, or some people’s lack
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thereof, to use the internet based on technical skill alone, noting that a computer and access to

the internet alone did not mean that a person could effectively use either to benefit their lives

(Goedhart et al., 2019). However, it should be noted that the study was conducted in Dutch,

hence the earlier classification of non-Western descent, so their issues might not exactly match

the issues in America one-to-one. Nevertheless, the failings of one system can inform us about

the failings of similar systems, especially since racial disparities exist across many societies.

These discrepancies in access to digital life are also of critical importance in K-12

education. During the COVID-19 pandemic, clear economic disparities as well as racial

disparities related to such economic disparities emerged in a manner that substantially impedes

online learning during mandatory stay at home periods (McDonald, 2020). This is one of the

consequences of uneven access to new technologies as a general result of economic inequality in

broader society. Such issues are of particular concern due to upward trends in economic

inequality in developed economies including the United States (Qureshi, 2020). The issues in the

aforementioned Dutch study, where parents of low socioeconomic status may not even see a

computer as financially important, are likely to be further exacerbated by increased dependence

on digital learning during the pandemic. Returning to the United States, these forms of digital

inequality persist along racial lines very strongly. (Atske & Perrin, 2021) This manifests itself

most strongly in discrepancies in access to broadband internet, which is a major barrier to online

education.

Economic status is different from race, but is linked to an extent. However, it is a stronger

predictor than race of experiencing digital inequality (Vogels, 2021). In addition, smartphone
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ownership is generally seen as a prerequisite to many online processes in the modern era, and is

seen as a necessity in many circles as a result. Smartphone ownership rates are also subject to

major racial disparity just like broadband internet access.

Given the aforementioned concerns, this information combined with the other sources

here suggests a very strong correlation between social privilege and ability to use computers and

the greater internet effectively. Further research is needed to determine if this is a vicious cycle,

given the question that needs to be answered. Are people who are socially disadvantaged less

likely to receive internet support, or is the lack of internet support a major contributing factor to

the aforementioned social inequality? Moreover, are both statements true, and if so, does this

feed into itself? Most importantly, are there ways for low-income demographics to mitigate their

asymmetric access to digital opportunities at a low cost to society at large?

Research Question

In what ways do current economic factors affect access to technology within a

community? Do family conflict factors matter as well, and do they matter as much as economic

factors?
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Research Design

Finding subjects will be challenging due to the way people tend to self-sort based on

socioeconomic status. In order to reach as many people as possible and collect as much data as

reasonably possible, we will use Google Forms and target a broad range of the population. The

questions we need to ask are:

● Have you had struggles getting access to the technology you need for work,

school, or general life? If so, what was the cause?

● What essential tasks do you and your family use the internet for?

● How has increased access to technology improved your ability to perform at

work, school, or general life?

● How has your personal experience with access to technology helped you with

finding employment?

However, there is an issue here. If we wish to speak to people who have struggled with

access to or ability to use technology, then using google forms, or zoom, or any other tech-based

method would naturally filter out some number of people. Therefore, it would be prudent to

consider another angle. For better or for worse, the past year has had students all across the

country learning from home, often with school-provided computers. As our focus is on the

people who struggled, it makes sense to contact the people who deal with those struggling. To

that end, a reasonable alternative to a direct survey would be to survey IT professionals that work

with students, preferably those who support students in lower-income neighborhoods. Therefore,

an alternative set of questions will be prepared for those people.

● Are there any families that have required help a significant amount of times? If

so, are there any common themes or generalizations about these families?
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● When working with families, do you often find yourself speaking with the parents

or the children? Are there any notable trends amongst either group?

(Ian’s Replacement Questions:)

● Regarding families or individuals that have required help with technology: Do

you believe it has negatively impacted their education?

● With the Pandemic in full swing this past year and a half, have parents adjusted

well to remote learning? Are there any common traits among those who have

adjusted well, and are there any common traits among those who have not?

● Any further comments or requests you have?

(End Replacements)

● How have technological challenges affected the children’s performance in

school?

● Is access to technology a source of intergenerational family conflict?

Ian has personally been working with an IT support company that works with schools,

and has been volunteering with low-level yet vital chores needed for the continued functioning of

an online school. Tasks done include server maintenance, data cleanup, and hauling physical

computers and other technology from one location to another. However, he also works at

Pasadena Unified School District, and often helps people who are lacking in technical

capabilities. Tasks he performs there include assisting students and parents with; getting a

school-issued hotspot, using the website applications vital to daily learning, doing basic

diagnostics on their school-issued chromebooks, and many other tasks. This IT organization is

where we hope to do our surveys for the backup plan.

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Alonzo has been a mentor at Udacity and has previously worked as an independent

mobile app developer as well as a backend and React frontend developer. He currently works as

an augmented reality engineer at an LA-based startup. In his prior work at Udacity, he has

provided guidance to people of diverse backgrounds looking to learn how to use Amazon Web

Services.

Conducting Research

Ian secured three surveys with IT support professionals, two of whom support public

school districts, with the third supporting a community college. Their last names have been

omitted for privacy’s sake. Annie has worked directly with many families that need technical

support as a phone technician for the Pasadena Unified School District, often being the first

person that people speak to when they have an issue. Matthew worked for the Moorpark Unified

School District as a helpdesk technician and system admin, meaning they at least looked at

almost every single submitted ticket and call. Terrance works as a ticket manager for De Anza

college, and helps the faculty there with their technical issues. Please see the appendix for the

transcripts.

Findings

A common theme found in the interviews is that people who were either socially or

economically disadvantaged were mentioned to have issues with technological access in some

fashion, and that the interviewees believed that this negatively impacted the education of the

students. Annie said that a large portion of the families she helped were people poor enough to

qualify for the free school lunch program. The other major trend that she noticed was that a lot of

the families that needed help also had English as a second language (A., personal
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communication, October 4, 2021). Annie and Matthew mentioned in their interviews that the

student’s learning experience was negatively affected by needing tech support. Annie specifically

mentioned that students that came from low-income families were set back by the switch to

remote learning, due to not having internet at home (A., personal communication, October 4,

2021). Matthew pointed out that long turnaround times can harm students’ learning. Time spent

waiting for tech support was time where the student was unable to work on schoolwork (M.,

personal communication, October 4, 2021). This is important, because people who are less

technologically capable tend to require more help with technology, and therefore, more time is

spent fixing issues and not learning. And in many cases, students need to make up for their

teachers. Terrance noted that many teachers needed time and practice to digitize their classes,

and struggled with using a format they were not used to (T., personal communication, October

10, 2021). He also noted that, according to the teachers he worked with, the pandemic cut off

access to the computer labs and other tech on campus, forcing people to rely on what they had at

home. It is not a stretch to assume that what students had at home varied wildly, often reflecting

the economic situation they and their parents were in. For the full text of the survey answers,

please see appendices A through C.

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Conclusions

As we have seen, major socioeconomic differences exist in technology access and usage.

There also exist generational differences that can sometimes be just as pronounced as

socioeconomic ones. We also found that language barriers can also be a major barrier to access to

both technology and technological support. Even when these students do receive support, the

increased turnaround times also amplify inequality in learning due to the time lost to waiting for

support. Conversely, parents who are more experienced with computers, likely due to having

economic access to them, can reasonably solve a lot of minor issues that might take hours in

turnaround time. Of course, the best solution to school-provided technology of questionable

quality or usage restrictions is simply using funds, which many of these families may not have,

to purchase a decent computer for the student.

These problems, once somewhat subtle to the public at large, have been brought into

harsh relief by the COVID-19 pandemic forcing remote learning on the general populace.

Families who had no computer information technology experience whatsoever had to adapt to

learning solely on a piece of technology that was bought at bulk prices by the school. Many

students had their education significantly delayed both by trying to get their hands on these

school supplied devices, and then by trying to gain access to the internet, something a lot of these

families could not afford. Thus, they would have to work through the systems often written only

in English, causing problems and delays. In short, the system as it is furthers social, economic,

and racial inequalities, not through active oppression, but simply through lacking equitable

support for those who lack privilege.

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Recommendations

In light of what we have documented, we recommend allocating resources for additional

training programs for older adults to help them understand issues pertaining to technology. Many

parents often rely on their children to learn technology for them, so explicitly reaching out and

teaching the adults would assist in reducing the need for technical support. In addition, many

schools could use additional money for technology- both from an educational standpoint and

from an accessibility standpoint.

We also recommend expanding support for Spanish speaking students and families. It is

not simply enough to have English taught at all levels and expect the children to perform the

majority of the technological work. There are also benefits to native language support in early

childhood education (Yousefi, 2016). Simply encouraging students to abandon their native

language has long lasting effects. Hopefully, it will be possible to hire native Spanish speakers

for school tech support in areas where a significant amount of student families cannot speak

English. Providing naitive support to significantly reduce turnaround times would go a long way

towards remedying inequalities in technological education.

Perhaps the most drastic change we would like to see occur is the internet becoming a

public utility, given its major importance to daily life and functioning in our current society. Too

many students had to rely on mobile hotspots, which have their own bevy of issues. Of course,

there are many other benefits to making the internet accessible to all people, but many of those

benefits are outside the scope of our paper. We will say, however, that many of those unstated

benefits would have a positive impact on the socioeconomic status of the students, directly or
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indirectly. Overall, the problem may seem quite insurmountable, but the government is in a good

position to make changes that benefit the students and society as a whole.
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References

Atske, S., & Perrin, A. (2021, September 10). Home broadband Adoption, computer ownership

vary by race, ethnicity in the U.S. Pew Research Center. Retrieved September 26, 2021,

from

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/07/16/home-broadband-adoption-computer-

ownership-vary-by-race-ethnicity-in-the-u-s/

Goedhart, N. S., Broerse, J. E., Kattouw, R., & Dedding, C. (2019). ‘Just having a computer

doesn’t make sense’: The digital divide from the perspective of mothers with a low

socio-economic position. New Media & Society, 21(11–12), 2347–2365.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819846059

McDonald, J. (2020, December 9). Despite improved access, digital divide persists for minority,

low-income students. UCLA. Retrieved September 18, 2021, from

https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/digital-divide-persists-for-minority-low-income-stude

nts

Qureshi, Z. (2020, February). Work in the Age of Data. Brookings.edu. Retrieved from

https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/BBVA-OpenMind-Zia-Qureshi-I

nequality-in-the-digital-era.pdf

Vogels, E. A. (2021, September 10). Digital divide persists even as Americans with lower

incomes make gains in tech adoption. Pew Research Center. Retrieved September 26,

2021, from
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https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-americ

ans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/.

Kapella, O. (2021, April 15). Families, technology use, and daily life: Parents' role in building

resilience and mitigating harm. Parenting for a Digital Future. Retrieved October 14,

2021, from

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2021/05/19/families-and-technology/.

Dual Language Immersion Schools. Bilingual Teacher. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2021, from

https://sites.uci.edu/bilingualteacher/dual-immersion-schools/.

Yousefi, S (2016, September 4). The importance of children learning their native languages.

Novak Djokovic Foundation. Retrieved October 17, 2021, from

https://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/importance-children-learning-native-languages/.
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Appendix

Appendix A

Interview with Annie, helpdesk technician for Pasadena Unified School District

1. Are there any families or individuals that have required help a significant amount of

times? If so, are there any common themes or generalizations about these families or

individuals?

“There are hundreds of families associated with that district that do not have adequate

internet at home and were issued Hotspots from the district. These families are all low income

and most associated with the Free and reduced lunch programs.”

2. When working with families, do you often find yourself speaking with the parents or the

children? Are there any notable trends amongst either group?

“We mostly speak with parents regarding these requests, a large portion of these families,

English is a second language.”

3. Regarding families or individuals that have required help with technology: Do you

believe it has negatively impacted their education?

“In the beginning, we did not have enough devices to go around, these students were

unable to work from home without internet access, they were not able to attend school during

lock down while remote learning was required.”

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4. With the Pandemic in full swing this past year and a half, have parents adjusted well to

remote learning? Are there any common traits among those who have adjusted well, and

are there any common traits among those who have not?

“This was an incredibly difficult adjustment at the beginning of last year. Both parents

and students were working from home, internet resources for families were pushed to the limits,

also parents struggling with trying to work and help their children with school at the same time.”

5. Any further comments or requests you have?

“This is a great topic to discuss! I wish there were more resources available to low

income families as technology is required for school and work these days. If you do not have a

computer with adequate internet access, it can be very difficult to succeed in life even from a

very young age - K-12.”

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Appendix B

Interview with Matthew, system administrator for Moorpark Unified School District

1. Are there any families or individuals that have required help a significant amount of

times? If so, are there any common themes or generalizations about these families or

individuals?

“Generally people who are set in their ways or refuse to learn new things either out of

stubbornness or they don't see the skill as being useful because that is why they have you.”

2. When working with families, do you often find yourself speaking with the parents or the

children? Are there any notable trends amongst either group?

“Depends on the problem. I tend to work with the Parents initially who either act as an

intermediary to their child or puts the child on the phone. There is stark contrast between parents

and children in that with most children terms like IP address, command prompt and cookies and

cache are common knowledge.”

3. Regarding families or individuals that have required help with technology: Do you

believe it has negatively impacted their education?

“I believe the impact is a direct relation to the duration of the problem they needed help

with. The longer the duration of the problem the more negative impact it can have. It could be

argued that the initial impact on their education could be offset by the knowledge gained while

seeking help.”
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4. With the Pandemic in full swing this past year and a half, have parents adjusted well to

remote learning? Are there any common traits among those who have adjusted well, and

are there any common traits among those who have not?

“Some parents have some have not. The parents who are well adjusted tend to be ones

with some technical knowledge and students that are more willing to be self driven and

independent. The parents who have not tend to be "helicopter parents" in that they must have

input on every part of their student's education. While this is not a bad thing when its paired with

a lack of technical knowledge it can have a substantial impact on the students education.”

5. Any further comments or requests you have?

“None.”
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Appendix C

Interview with Terrance, IT Technician for De Anza College

1. Are there any families or individuals that have required help a significant amount of

times? If so, are there any common themes or generalizations about these families or

individuals?

“Perhaps not surprisingly, these are the least technical people. In my setting, there is not a

significant economic disparity in our faculty user base. I work in a community college. I also

provide support for student labs, but rarely interact with the students. The lack of access to our

usual lab space, hardware, and software has, per my instructors, impacted student learning

outcomes negatively. “

2. When working with families, do you often find yourself speaking with the parents or the

children? Are there any notable trends amongst either group?

“I only support adult users in my work setting. In my side gig, there have been times

when the children were more interested in what and why I was doing when I was fixing

something than their parents were. The parents tended to be more outcomes focused... Does it do

what I want it to?”

3. Regarding families or individuals that have required help with technology: Do you

believe it has negatively impacted their education?

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“Lack of access to technology, such as during the pandemic, has, I believe, negatively

impacted our student users. The faculty have had struggles adapting to new technologies. Many

are re-developing their curriculum for on-line learning.”

4. With the Pandemic in full swing this past year and a half, have parents adjusted well to

remote learning? Are there any common traits among those who have adjusted well, and

are there any common traits among those who have not?

“In my opinion, adaptation was strongly correlated with previous technical know-how

and access to technology and connectivity. Those who started with a good underlying grasp of

the technology adjusted more readily than those who didn't. The student population is more

varied, but my interaction with them is oblique, at best.”

5. Any further comments or requests you have?

“The digital divide is real. There are several aspects to it, though. In my experience, the

younger generation of users tend to be more oriented toward accessing technology on mobile

devices - especially phones. There may be various reasons - because of greater use of social

media and messaging, younger users want to have the readily accessible platform for

communicating. Older adults, as a general rule, tend to compartmentalize more and tend to use

lower levels of interaction rate. Computers, home networking, and broadband service all require

more investment in time, space, and money than an Internet enabled cell phone. ”
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Appendix D

Literature review of Families, Technology Use, and Daily Life.

The London School of Economics has published a rundown of the ethics of computer

usage within a family unit. This is relevant to socioeconomic factors due to differences both in

access to technology and content quality filtering by parental economic and educational levels.

The article still features sufficient data to answer interview questions about technology use

within a family.

1. Are there any families or individuals that have required help a significant amount of

times? If so, are there any common themes or generalizations about these families or

individuals?

“Most of them have been confused as to what the effects of computers will be on their children

due to their own unfamiliarity.”

2. When working with families, do you often find yourself speaking with the parents or the

children? Are there any notable trends amongst either group?

“While there is a general notion that children are digital natives, parents still tend to speak out

more.”

3. How have technological challenges affected the children’s performance in school?

“This has been a source of much controversy, but generally, access to technology helps children

as long as they don’t get too distracted.”

4. Is access to technology a source of intergenerational family conflict?

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“It often leads to conflicts over screen time limits imposed by parents. Joint engagement with

technology appears to reduce these conflicts, such as when a parent helps a child with a reading

app on an iPad.”