The Great Divide

I recently visited a big-time sports stadium.

I was having a great time, talking with friends, perusing menus and then I saw it. A sign:

“All locations are now cashless.”

For some reason it made me stop and ruminate – really chew on something other than my $10 pizza slice – how accessible is cashless for the average sports fan?

Sure, the cost of tickets alone keeps many outside the gates, but cashless transactions?

How often have I taken for granted that most folks have plastic or even cell service or streaming or subscriptions. Most.

According to the Pew Research Center, “The digital lives of Americans with lower and higher incomes remain markedly different.”

Pew Points out that “Roughly a quarter of adults with household incomes below $30,000 a year (24%) say they don’t own a smartphone.”

The CNBC news service says roughly one in four Americans “can’t get approved for a credit card.” The Motley Fool says, “Nearly 30% of Americans don’t have credit cards.”

How accessible is the world for these folks?

Who are these folks? They people – people in in financial distress, poverty, transition, who are unhoused, mentally challenged, chronically ill, and more. They are nearby, in our neighborhoods, our homes, workplaces, offices, and company.

They are denied much in this world, and as technology flourishes, and the economy does not, they are more and more displaced and seemingly forgotten.

So many folks look at telephone landlines, let alone phone booths, as quaint and obsolete. Yet folks with no phones have fewer and fewer options to connect without them.

And ATMs can’t help someone without credit or debit accounts, as bank branches disappear or offer limited hours as more and more other people bank online.

The idea of starting your car remotely to pop off to an appointment is almost an automatic activity. Imagine the planning and time it takes to do so without a vehicle or a public transportation system. Speaking of which, Greyhound, which was sold three years ago, is closing bus stations here and there, and the latest might be in Chicago of all places.

The haves and the have nots have never been farther apart or further separated by the wealth of options available to a select few.

I am still trying to unwrap and understand the opportunities I am afforded, and the obstacles my neighbors of all sorts witness and withstand, especially in this season of thankfulness.

Joanne Williams is Associate Professor of Media Production and Communication at The University of Olivet.