Internet-Deprived Kids Turning To 'McLibraries'

theodp writes "After the school computer lab and public library close for the night in many communities, the local McDonald's is often the only place to turn for students without internet access at home. 'Cheap smartphones and tablets have put Web-ready technology into more hands than ever,' reports the WSJ's Anton Troianovski. 'But the price of Internet connectivity hasn't come down nearly as quickly. And in many rural areas, high-speed Internet through traditional phone lines simply isn't available at any price. The result is a divide between families that have broadband constantly available on their home computers and phones, and those that have to plan their days around visits to free sources of Internet access.' The FCC says it can make broadband available to all Americans by spending $45 billion over 10 years, but until then the U.S. will have to rely on Mickey D's, Starbucks, and others to help address its digital divide. Time to update that iconic McDonald's sign?"

Re:Those square things made out of papyrus

[Jmc23]

Yup definitely too much to ask when the homework assignments are posted or done online.

Oh wait, were you being sarcastic about something you made up in your head without RTFA?

Re:Libraries

[TheRaven64]

As an atheist with qualms about organised religion I do object to them taking over the role of the state

In the UK (where the original poster was from) it is quite common for Church halls to be used for secular purposes. They are effectively village halls (often the 'village' in question was subsumed by a town or city some centuries ago) that happen to be owned by the church. They are usually either free or very cheap to use and often the only large indoor space that is affordable for volunteer groups and community organisations. Although they tend to be owned by the church, using them doesn't usually come with any religious strings attached.

Re:Wow

[Solandri]

You might want to reassess your definition of poverty then. Cooking food yourself doesn't just involve purchasing ingredients. There is a substantial upfront cost of buying the equipment and infrastructure to turn ingredients into food. At the very least you'll need to heat water and have a surface that can be sterilized and used to cook on. You'll need utensils and pots/pans. The energy required will be either gas or electric which costs money. I suppose you could burn wood but that isn't free either and is illegal/impractical most places.

So that $1 burger costs quite a bit more to cook yourself. If you have no equipment and no access to infrastructure then it's actually cheaper to buy fast food. The "total cost of ownership" of the food you make yourself is deceptive because much of the cost isn't directly related to the superficially cheaper ingredients.

$500 stove with 10 year lifespan, assuming 2 meals cooked per day = 6.8 cents per meal.
$100 of pots and pans with a 20 year lifespan, assuming 2 meals cooked per day = 0.7 cents per meal.
$50 set of plates and utensils with a 20 year lifespan, assuming 3 meals eaten per day = 0.23 cents per meal.
Energy required to boil 1 liters of water from 20 C = 80*4.186 kJ + 2260 kJ = 2595 kJ (I'll assume this is close to cooking one burger)
Electricity required to do that at 50% transfer efficiency = 1.44 kWh.
Price at the U.S. average of $0.12/kWh = 17.3 cents.
Grand total cost per meal = 25.03 cents per meal.

This country badly needs to teach basic accounting and home economics (real economics, not just sewing and cooking) as mandatory courses in high school. So people don't believe silly arguments to justify eating fast food all the time. Most people don't realize how much money they're throwing away leasing cars, carrying a balance on their credit cards, paying a 1% higher interest rate on their car loan because they didn't budget to save up a bigger down payment, and eating fast food.

The best argument for fast food is that if you're single and living alone, it can be difficult to use up even a small amount of groceries before the meat and vegetables go bad. The portions you eat are so small that even a single head of lettuce might have to last more than a week. And most people hate eating the same thing over and over, so the ingredients you use for one meal might not be needed again for 2-3 more days. So you end up throwing a lot of groceries out vs. buying fast food which is made from fresh ingredients every day. You end up buying a lot of prepackaged and frozen dinner type groceries instead, which on a cost per meal basis is pretty much the same as fast food.

Re:Wow

[LMariachi]

It's not a culture clash per se, it's that most of the US has been designed around the assumption that you have a car (or horse.) In the wide-open spaces between coasts, it's not uncommon to live many miles from the nearest shopping center or "downtown" area, well outside of casual biking range even when it's not snowing or you're not old. Even many major cities have only rudimentary public transit. In some places this is intentional, to keep the poors away from "nice neighborhoods." (IIRC, both the George Washington Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge were originally intended to have rail decks, which were scuttled by the political influence of wealthy suburbanites. New York-New Jersey connections were later established due to sheer unavoidable necessity, but to this day taking public transportation to Marin county and points north remains only nominally feasible.) Streetcar systems in Los Angeles and elsewhere were killed by a consortium of automobile interests seeking to increase dependence on their products.

OP does overstate certain costs (twenty bucks will get you a hotplate, a pan, and a place setting at Goodwill or Salvation Army stores) but the gist is correct.

Re:Libraries

[Gordonjcp]

Depends where you are. A lot of them do a similar thing to the Sikh community do with gurdwara, where they will have their church service then all have something to eat while they discuss it. I could get to like a church where you spend most of the time eating veg curry and discussing the bits where the holy book is wrong ;-)