Americans of all ages are impacted by a lack of access to information technology, especially those from historically marginalized groups.  In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that 85 % of adults in the United States own a smartphone, only 71 % of Black and 65 % of Hispanic households report having a computer and home broadband, and 15 % of adults claim they are dependent on their smartphones for internet access. These numbers did not address the impact the lack of reliable internet has on families with multiple students, adults working from home, and the ability to seek health care with limited technology during the pandemic.

With this dependence on broadband connectivity and a growing problem with digital literacy and technology skills, these disparities demonstrate a clear widening of the gap between those with reliable access to information technology and training and those without. Research shows these differences follow the patterns of historical discriminatory New Deal-era redlining practices established in the 1920s and 1930s. The term “redlining” originates from U.S. government color-coded maps created to identify areas and properties eligible for government-insured mortgages; areas deemed unworthy of inclusion in the programs were assigned the color red and were predominantly inhabited by Black residents, effectively denying them access to those loans. Recently, this practice of redlining has influenced the telecommunications field and led to underinvestment in offering advanced, broadband internet services and reliable connections to these same marginalized communities.

Tracie Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association, has identified digital redlining, or as she titles it “information redlining”, and the continued exclusion along race and class lines related to digital equity as one of the “key civil rights issues of our time”. Taking its name from the historic housing and real estate practices in the United States, digital redlining is the intentional lack of investment in broadband infrastructure and affordable service, offering low levels of service for higher prices than in wealthier areas, to low-income communities “already identified as least likely to succeed in the United States”.

Communities that are generally impacted by the continuing digital divide are those that have historically suffered inequalities in society, and while the common smartphone device is owned by most Americans, it is not sufficient to overcome the “unequal distribution of resources and that an unequal distribution of resources causes unequal access to the internet”. According to research done in 2020, there is increasing evidence of the connection between disparities of the digital divide and technological redlining, the “historical practice of racial and socioeconomic segregation of neighborhoods” rather than geographical.

When examining digital redlining, the impact of the practice on the ability of members of historically marginalized, low-income, and/or BIPOC communities to access reliable information technology, resources, and stable broadband connectivity follows the historical New Deal redlining practices. Regardless of geographic location, income, and education level, access to this technology is persistent in both urban and rural areas. According to a 2015 study on high-speed internet access, it was found that poor, white, rural communities have a higher rate of high-speed internet access than affluent Black rural communities. These inequities have been found to map onto areas that were historically “redlined” in states across the United States, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia.  Digital redlining is deeply embedded and influences the laws and policies governing technological advancements and access.

Not only is access to technology and hardware vital to equitable access to information, but the practice of digital redlining also includes the policies and practices embedded in the educational system. While students may have access to hardware, they may not have internet access at home to engage in class. Digital redlining and lack of access to information technology has been contributory to the pandemic “homework gap” where approximately 15% of students in the United States, primarily from historically marginalized and/or BIPOC communities, who lack computer and/or internet access at home for remote learning, spent less time on remote learning. With the pandemic spanning over two academic years, these disparities will be felt long into the future.