There is a sharp digital divide in America, keeping those without access to technology at a disadvantage. Schools and workplaces are now requiring the use of more technology, even at times completely requiring an online presence from students and workers. Of course this means, in order to fully and optimally function in America one needs a good internet connection and a device capable of doing everything that is required of them at their establishments.
However, not everyone has access to these things. Not everyone has reliable and fast internet connections, and the transfer from in-person to online schooling doesn't account for this. Deadlines, attendance, and interactivity is expected at the same level, and even more. This has left many people frustrated and at a disadvantage, not to mention the people who dislike online work and schooling compared to in-person.
There are some systems in-place to help this transition for people, but it has required a lot of work from individual schools and teachers to make this transition. While corporations have the money to buy employees a personal computer, schools have similar expectations for their students but can hardly provide Chromebooks.
I think in order to fix something like this, America needs to view certain technologies as rights to people. While 100 years ago it would have been difficult to imagine a computer being a "right" to any one person, now that our economy and society relies on so many people to access these things, we need to consider these things necessities. People are extremely disadvantaged without access to information, softwares, tools, and communication lines. Without a phone and computer, someone is completely cut off from American society, and unfairly disadvantaged against people who aren't necessarily harder workers, but instead more able to provide work.
This problem doesn't only exist in America, there's a strong argument for the digital divide being even more strong between third world and first world countries. The workforce has shifted towards valuing specialized tech positions, and in order to be paid well in office jobs now one has to be highly experienced with using technology and various software's. The resources to use this technology, and much less teach it, are lacking in third world countries, making it more difficult to immigrate and move up in pay.
