Digital Discrimination

My mom is almost 80 years old and doesn’t have a computer. Nor does she want one. Most of her friends don’t have computers, either, and so they have no convenient way to access the internet. They are understandably pretty frustrated when they want information about something and are given a URL instead of a pamphlet or a conversation with a human being.

The latest infraction came from T-Mobile, which provides my mom’s cellular service. T-Mobile is trying to save money and lower its environmental impact by doing away with paper statements. I applaud this move, but then I haven’t received a paper statement from them in years. I get my statements via email, and my bills are automatically deducted from my checking account each month. Easy-peasy. Then again, I have a computer with an internet connection and have for more than a decade now (not counting the office). Now, my mom could agree to have $1. 50 tacked onto her monthly charges in order to continue to receive a paper statement, but apparently $1.50 is too much to pay for her convenience. I’ll be handling her T-Mobile statements and bill paying from now on, which is fine. I can do it faster than she can.

As if that weren’t enough, now her church has gotten her knickers in a knot. Apparently, the Lutheran church is going to let gay people be ordained (“non-celibate homosexuals” is the terminology they used). The pastor announced this development one Sunday, noting that his church would not follow suit, and if the congregants wanted more information they could find it on the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod’s website. My mother and her friends were ticked. She called me to have me look up the news item and print it for her.

Now I read on Rotten Tomatoes that movie listings might not be printed in newspapers anymore. This is the way my mother finds out when and where the movies she and her girlfriends want to see are playing. She’ll have to call me if movie listings disappear, or hope one of her friends has a computer with an internet connection. I’ve told her she can use the computers at the public library in a pinch (if I’m not available), and I’ll be happy to show her how to access the internet on them. She insists it would be too much trouble, and she’d only forget what I showed her.

I endorse any effort to reduce our impact on the environment. And it’s not like T-Mobile (for example) isn’t providing a way for those without an internet connection to receive their billing statements. But I think they might make allowances for senior citizens, maybe offer them a special deal in which they don’t have to pay for paper statements by virtue of their age. Maybe if they provide their AARP membership number, or something. I just think it’s unfair to penalize someone for not wanting to own a computer. It’s not like she uses her cell phone all that much, anyway. Mostly, she just checks her home answering machine when she’s out, or uses it when she’s babysitting my niece at their house, since they’re totally cellular over there (as am I).

I think this situation will only get worse and more frustrating for my mother and others like her in the future. I’m happy to help, and it’s really no trouble for me at all, but I just think it’s not fair. Not everyone has easy access to the internet, and to assume that all or most people do isn’t right. It’s fine for me, but for people like my mom it’s infuriating.