2 00:00:03,403 --> 00:00:05,638 I think the goal of the simulation is just to help people build that empathy for those who are in the digital divide.

So everyone has their own persona.

they were told who they were going to play for the day and whose life they were going to live today.

And that was for four 15 minute weeks.

So they spent a month traveling in their shoes.

And in that way, they really got to feel the frustration of having limited resources, whether that was not having internet at home, not knowing how to use a computer, having to use public transit to go to find a place where they could access Wi-Fi or a computer, and the internet like the library.

And, you know, being restricted by the availability of those resources.

My big takeaway is no internet, no life.

It is pretty simple.

I was stunned by how hard things got when you didn't have a broadband connection.

I even had a smartphone in my case.

And still without internet, it was useless.

I mean, I can make a phone call with it, but that was basically it.

if you can't afford to pay for internet or you can't afford to buy a car, then you're, pretty much, you know, left behind.

Older people have a way of, you know, moving and us younger people, we can go here and there.

We can access internet, be as agile at life.

But a lot of times older people are not able to move as fast as they would like to because of the barriers.

Every persona that was in that class today, we've probably encountered someone like that, someone who doesn't have a job or doesn't have a ride somewhere.

Like real everyday people.

People that are in rural areas that don't have a library that has 10 to 12 computers, maybe have 1 or 2.

And so if they don't have internet at home, they have to go stand in line to wait to use a device.

A lot of people here live in those situations.

And if you don't have, internet connection or a computer or even like a good phone, you're pretty much stuck.

like you can't be self-sufficient.

I'm really glad, you know, people got to live an experience that This experience, I want to take this to my job.

I think this was a wonderful experience for anybody to go through so that they can be able to sympathize and be able to understand, things that happen from other people's perspective.

It was a real eye opener.