Barriers to Broadband Adoption Include Old Age, Socioeconomics and Values, NARUC Panelists Say

"When we're talking about the over-75 group, it’s the one-to-one human interaction generation,” Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner Betsy Wergin said from the audience to a NARUC panel Wednesday. “They're used to going to church on Sunday and going to the relatives. They're the skin people. They want to touch people.” She questioned the image of senior citizens connecting to distant relatives via iPads: “I respectfully disagree. If they're over 75, they want to go to the doctor. They want to touch his arm.” She said she suspects there will be “resistance” to broadband adoption in the over-75 generation, acknowledging an “automatic change” will be inevitable as generations shift. Wergin described a relative from the early 20th century who didn’t like tractors due to his past familiarity and fondness for doing work by horse, and she suggested there will always be that resistance certain generations have, while also citing a relative in her 90s who uses Skype. With broadband, that resistance still exists in the over-75 group more than in younger senior citizens, she said.

But broadband adoption classes are inherently social, said Fred Fields, chief operating officer of the New York City Older Adults Technology Services (OATS). These services entail “intensive” training courses to elderly adults about the virtues of broadband, and he defended the services as time senior citizens spend with one another rather than alone. OATS has offered 13,000 in-person technology training classes and helped educate 8,500 senior citizens, Fields said. Seniors are more comfortable learning broadband among older fellows, rather than next to “a 22-year-old kid whizzing along next to them,” he said. Outcomes may include “reducing the rates of depression in senior citizens, which is a serious problem,” he said. Broadband and digital connection is part of the solution, he said. Older adopters may face technology phobias, Fields said, due to fears about embarrassment and vulnerability. “Those who are a little younger speak a completely different language -- OMG,” Mobile Future board member and National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes said. He brought up Twitter and texting and the disparity between old and young, that older crowd that “still tries to hit that ‘return’ key” and add paragraphs and punctuation to online communication.

"The notion of value looms large in this discussion,” said Michael Santorelli, co-director of the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School. It’s not always easy to reach people who haven’t adopted broadband, and the appropriate channels to reach them may be the more traditional ones, panelists said. “We do think it’s important to use old media to promote new media,” said Connected Nation Vice President Tom Fritz. Those types of campaigns comprise a “really important way to get people to use new technology,” especially older individuals who are not yet likely exposed to some of the new media channels, he said.

Other factors pose a challenge for those who haven’t adopted to broadband, panelists said. “Urban or rural, the story’s the same -- it’s socioeconomic factors,” said Karen Mossberger, a University of Illinois-Chicago professor who’s researched broadband adoption. She attributed much to demographic factors like race and poverty. Neighborhoods can reinforce a community’s resistance to broadband adoption, she said, but she also pointed out those cultural values are balanced by economic factors. “The major barrier to adopting broadband at home is cost,” Mossberger said. “It’s something that has not been addressed very well by public policy. … The next frontier is how do we address cost.” California Emerging Technology Fund CEO Sunne Wright McPeak identified the ways geography complicates that state’s ability to serve its residents. Panelists acknowledged the “fiscal cliff” that some current programs face given the 2013 expiration date of NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

The way people use smartphones varies significantly from how they use personal computers, a researcher and commissioners said. “There’s been a lot of speculation that smartphones are going to erase these disparities” of broadband access, said Mossberger. “But our research shows mobile access is a supplement and not a replacement.” Many practical and helpful broadband uses simply can’t happen on a mobile phone yet. Panelists cited the difficulty of managing Excel spreadsheets and PDFs and even manipulating Microsoft Word documents on mobile devices. “I would be really hard-pressed to write a paper on this or even fill out most job applications,” said California Public Utilities Commissioner Catherine Sandoval, holding up her smartphone. Mossberger said she sees mobile devices more as a “halfway point” of access. Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner Larry Landis talked about the importance of having advocates and champions, “one individual who ignites that sense of passion in an entire community.” Corporations can play an “enormously significant” role, he said. At an earlier NARUC panel, Cox Communications Executive Director Jose Jiminez described the company as “fully committed” to making sure Lifeline helps fund broadband for low-income customers.