No connection. Once again, I found myself in my childhood bedroom without internet. My class would be starting in five minutes. With both of my siblings home attempting to do the same thing, our internet had suffered. I grabbed my keys and my laptop and drove five minutes down the road to get enough cell service to attend class.

COVID has taken away many of the normal activities we enjoy. Eating out, going to the mall, and  attending parties are just a few of the things that have had to change due to the pandemic. Technology has helped us continue education and shopping; however, when access to the internet is unreliable, the connection offered by technology becomes unavailable. 

During the beginning of quarantine, entertainment sites such as Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube experienced an increase of traffic at an average  of 19% in one month, the New York Times reported back in early April. The numbers become more interesting when considering the traffic was not due to app usage. Spending more time at home has allowed many of us to go back to using computers more than smartphones. These statistics are compelling for someone who had to switch to using my cell phone for nearly everything.

At my parent’s house, in Buffalo Gap, the internet comes and goes with the weather, and cell service is spotty. These were exciting challenges to navigate when we all were sent home in March. My internet could not handle my brother, my sister, and myself doing online classes occasionally at the same time. Because of this, my parents did not have the option of working from home.

“Get off the internet, Tara has college orientation!” My mother would alert us. The sibling and the activity changed, but the message was ongoing.

A study conducted in 2018 by the Pew Research Center found that for 58% of rural Americans, high-speed internet is difficult to access. This compares to 13% of Americans in urban areas and 9% in the suburbs who struggle to acquire high speed internet. 

While considering how to count participation, especially while doing classes online, it’s important to consider who has great internet access and who does not. It’s not obvious who has internet access, so assumptions will never be accurate. The importance of flexibility when dealing with online classes goes for both the students and the professors alike.