One of the things that is near and dear to me that I do not talk about often and rarely see addressed in the news is the digital divide. The digital divide is the difference between those with ready access to the Internet and those without. Many of those affected by the digital divide are in rural parts of the United States. Microsoft is on a mission to help close that divide right here in the U.S. This is in contrast to many other companies who work on this in developing markets around the world.  This is important for many reasons from work, to education, to even medical care and has become even more evident in the wake of the recent political turmoil in the U.S. As NPR reports, “In 2017, not being online hurts your education, your job prospects, your civic engagement.”

I’m excited to see where this goes. Growing up in rural East Texas in the 90s, not only did I not have Internet, I didn’t even have a computer. With the advent of computing being more readily available, access to the Internet is one of the remaining few gaps in the digital divide.