Are We Are On The Right Track?

When we created Somos Tejanos, Inc. and SomosTejanos.org, it was with the intent of cultivating Latino/a civic participation throughout Texas by focusing on Tejano lifestyle and culture. By creating an online platform, we have exhibited a commitment to reaching the Hispanic Texan community through the fastest-growing medium--the internet. How Latinos get on the information superhighway is what is fast becoming important, though.

A recent Pew Internet poll found that ownership of smartphones--or cell phones that operate on a platform, such as Android, iPhone, or Blackberry--is quite high (39% of American cell phone owners). Although smartphones call for added expense in purchasing a cell phone, 44% of Hispanics own a smartphone, compared to higher percentages of well-off and educated cell phone owners, in general. 

So, given those ownership numbers, check out the findings regarding internet access.

Some 87% of smartphone owners access the internet or email on their handheld, including two-thirds (68%) who do so on a typical day. When asked what device they normally use to access the internet, 25% of smartphone owners say that they mostly go online using their phone, rather than with a computer. While many of these individuals have other sources of online access at home, roughly one third of these “cell mostly” internet users lack a high-speed home broadband connection.

Smartphone owners under the age of 30, non-white smartphone users, and smartphone owners with relatively low income and education levels are particularly likely to say that they mostly go online using their phones.

And of those 44% of Hispanic smartphone owners, 74% of them access the internet through their smartphone on a typical day, and 38% use smartphones as their only means to access the internet. So, it is no surprise that we at Somos Tejanos utilize various means to "get the word out" and forge relationships:  the website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. We have a variety of means to reach out; through computer or, in this case, a smartphone.

Still, this does bring to light the fact that Hispanics are not accessing the internet through a personal computer and internet connection at home as much as the national average, and this is quite concerning. Sure, we may be cell phone consumers, and according to the survey, no one cell phone platform has ownership of the Hispanic demographic. So, while cell phone companies compete for our business, why aren't we seeing more efforts to increase internet access in the home?

Henry Cisneros, in his treatise in support of the ATT/T-Mobile merger, states that supporting it will allow for more digital access.

Wireless service offers the best, fastest hope to reach President Obama's dream of universal Internet access. This is quite literally an investment in our future competitiveness. It means more students will graduate prepared for college. It means more businessmen and women will open more businesses in their communities which will in turn create jobs.

What Cisneros does not engage in is a conversation about internet access at home, utilizing a home computer or a laptop. A 2009 Neilsen survey found that, although 80% of Americans own a home computer and 92% of those have some sort of internet access, those figures were lowest in Hispanic and other historical minority communities.

“Our findings indicate that there remains opportunity for growth in internet access in the US. Indeed, President Obama stated during the campaign that we had to view broadband internet access the same way we did telephone service and electricity - an essential utility available to all regardless of economic status,” said Steve McGowan, SVP of insights and client research initiatives at Nielsen. “But part of the challenge in extending web access to all Americans is the fact that there are more homes without computers, than there are homes with computers but lacking internet access.”

As someone who enjoys researching and writing, I can tell you that it cannot effectively be done on a smartphone. And given that half of Texas community college students and one-third of university students begin their college careers in remedial (developmental) courses to prepare them for college-level coursework, it appears that writing and researching by cell phone may not be a smart solution. It may be a solution to expand "digital access"  which allows one to find small pieces of information in quick fashion, and that may work in a world in which young people communicate in codes and abbreviations to ensure they say what they need to say in a Twitter/Facebook/Google+ world, but cell phones as a solution to college preparedness? Hardly.

I will not get into a debate about the merger of which Cisneros opines, as others have; however, I agree with him that access, adoption, and literacy are important to improving the condition of an emerging Hispanic community. As information providers, of course, we support multiple ways in which to reach the Hispanic Texan demographic we seek to inform and engage; however, we also feel a meaningful conversation must be had to consider ways in which to increase internet access at home as this is the best means in which to fully achieve civic participation; not to mention engage in educational endeavors, learn about healthy lifestyles, and engage in meaningful citizenship beyond 140 characters.

photo credit - steefafa/turnstyle news