With technology advancing like we never could have imagined, it’s now presumed the norm that everyone has access to their own in-home Wi-Fi. If we have phones and laptops, surely that means we also have internet access, right?
Wrong. The most recent US broadband report by FCC found that approximately 19 million Americans still don’t have access to a fixed broadband service. The problem here comes from the assumption by employers and school teachers that nobody in their workplace or school is a part of this statistic.
But a photograph that has been shared across social media this past month shows why it’s never fair to assume.
In the photo, which has been shared across Twitter and Instagram, two young children are sitting on the sidewalk outside a Taco Bell, using the restaurant’s Wi-Fi to do their homework.
The caption of the original photo posted to Instagram reads:
“Oh my gosh mi corazon. This image shared my @ms_mamie89 of 2 little girls outside a Taco Bell in Salinas trying to access the WiFi for their classes. It’s been so tough on these frontlines, there’s so much necessity in these underserved communities. We need to save them. And how is this possible if these are the communities that feed the country?
This is in Salinas, CA— just south of the Bay Area. Small children sitting outside a Taco Bell to be able to get WiFi so they can attend school. When we think about remote learning, we need to stop thinking of it through the lens of people with money and safe housing. pic.twitter.com/bLU1kIR9D7
— Stephanie Hurlburt (@sehurlburt) August 26, 2020
“I’ve been learning so much and honestly I needed a couple days to get my thoughts and strategies together to figure out how I can make a bigger impact at a faster rate. I had to step back and figure out how I can work smarter not harder for these communities.
“Because let me tell you there’s just so many families that need our help. We are just getting started. We want to provide access to the internet to as many families possible, looking at solutions as I speak. We want to do everything in our power to save our people, our children, our community, our culture. Can I please get connected with this family”
At the moment, the US has hotspot locations set up for children who have been “remote working” as a result of the pandemic. But it’s obvious that not all children are aware of the hotspot locations, or they don’t live near enough to one that they can visit.
As a result, children like these youngsters have been forced to find the closest Wi-Fi access and do their homework on the floor.
The image was screenshotted and shared to Twitter, where people made it their mission to spread the word about Salinas’ Wi-Fi hotspots.
Hotspot locations in Salinas for students who need WiFi pls rt pic.twitter.com/OF3BVPAbqS
— chris (@Its_chrisis) August 26, 2020
But it’s clear that many children in Salinas and the rest of the US are still not receiving the support they need to help them with their schoolwork.
The good news is that the attention received from the nearly-6,000 Twitter shares has encouraged strangers across the country to take action. Many people are beginning to educate themselves on the needs of their neighbors and how they can help somebody who needs access to Wi-Fi.
Hopefully it will be enough to prevent children from working on the sidewalk in the future.
According to KION, officials in Salinas reached out to the family in question and provided them with their own Wi-Fi, which is a step in the right direction. We hope to see much more local support like this in the future.
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