opinion: install wi-fi in low-income housing for seniors

by constance lafontaine and kim sawchuk, special to montreal gazettea lockdown is bad. a lockdown when you are not connected to the internet is worse.during the pandemic we have witnessed first-hand the impact of the digital connection on older adults. some seniors were shut out of virtual family gatherings. others were unable to order groceries online. and how are they navigating the vaccine passport? during the municipal campaign that just ended, seniors issues were on the agenda, but there were glaring omissions.for many older adults, including those living in low-income housing, digital disconnection is a reality.here’s an idea: the city of montreal should invest in the installation of internet in low-income housing for older adults. this would remove a key barrier for the people who are most likely to be digitally disconnected.access to the internet is far from being just a question of age; it is linked to socio-economic factors such as income, level of education and literacy rate. according to the observatoire sur les inégalités du québec, 74 per cent of seniors aged 65 and over are internet users. that number tumbles down to 43 per cent for older adults who earn less than $20,000 a year.telecommunication costs are more expensive in canada than in almost any other developed country. when we did interviews with older adults about the affordability of the internet in montreal, they routinely told us that they cut down on groceries to pay their internet bills. others find the internet so prohibitively expensive that they shun digital technologies altogether. for them, the internet is a luxury they cannot afford on a fixed income.what’s worse, many seniors believe that some telecommunication service providers are taking advantage of them because they are old. this makes them wary of even dealing with telcos, and risking nasty surprises when the internet bill arrives.montreal likes to call itself a “smart city.” wouldn’t a smart city strategy be to bridge this existing digital divide? digitizing low-income buildings for seniors would target this particular population and can be part of a larger urban and social development strategy to correct a disparity that has existed for too long.to be sure, installing wireless internet in low income housing for seniors will entail a financial commitment by the city of montreal. yet, we are talking about the same city that won canada’s top prize as part of the $50 million smart city challenge, with the promise of developing cutting edge digital solutions for social problems. are the young more deserving of digital solutions for social problems? together, we can conquer the digital divide and include older adults in the city of tomorrow, which should be a priority for a so-called “smart city” like montreal.installing wi-fi in low-income housing for seniors certainly isn’t a magic bullet. access to devices, training and ongoing support are all key to gaining proficiency with new technologies. as a result of the pandemic, there are unprecedented community efforts to connect older adults to the internet.we are seeing projects, both large and small, popping up all over the island with the goal of teaching the internet to older adults. many of these projects entail creating intergenerational connections and finding meaningful ways for older adults to engage with technologies. the enthusiasm from organizations is palpable, but most of these efforts share a common obstacle to their success: many would-be older digital learners don’t have wi-fi and they can’t afford it.municipal governments can have short-term and real-world impacts on the digital realities of seniors. we need an arsenal of solutions before the next crisis appears. it’s time we start implementing smart policies that benefit those whom we have placed at the margins of digital society.constance lafontaine is the associate director of ageing + communication + technologies (act) and kim sawchuk is the director of act and a professor in communication studies at concordia university.