Remote working technologies such as Zoom require a significant amount of digital resources, namely a strong and stable internet connection. For example,
in order to participate in a virtual class meeting with a typical class size of 25, one requires at least 2.0 Mbps internet [13], according to Zoom.
In addition to the speed requirements, the amount of internet data usage is also high for Zoom meetings. For instance, an hour long group meetings
on Zoom can take up to approximately 2.5 GB of data per hour [14] of meeting.
These high intensive network requirements for Zoom creates a digital divide in which there is an unequal access remote working technologies.
Remote workers and students who do not have fast and large data usages limits would not be able to easily attend remote working meetings as those
who have access to those internet resources.
These issues are especially exacerbated with the COVID pandemic. Since not all jobs can take on a remote working form, a large number of people
lost their jobs. At the start of the pandemic, more than 20 million [15]
people lost their jobs in the US. This most would have led to a larger number of
people not being able to pay for their internet bills or having to downgrade their internet service. This aggravates the digital divide since
families of workers who have jobs with no remote working options would be unequally disadvatanged compared to the families of workers whose jobs
can shift into a remote working format.
In order to tackle such issues, the US government planned to spend $65 billion [16] on
narrowing the digital divide in the US.
However, throughout the globe, the issue of the digital divide persisted in areas not limited to just internet performance.
In some cases in India [17], students were either could not hear the instructor or vice versa
due to low quality audio coming from earpieces and phones and at times, students would just be dropped out of meetings due to device issues.
