Options are a Luxury, Tech is the Great Equalizer
Calling into work for a migraine flare-up. Taking a 6-month maternity leave. Disneyland or Yellowstone. For many Americans, these options are not ones their wallets can bankroll.
The fact is, options are a luxury. Only those who have the financial wherewithal or a support network can afford to explore possibilities. Limited funds often lead to a this or that reality that holds people hostage in toxic work environments or stuck in circumstances that are a virtually inescapable hamster wheel.
Money isn’t the only thing keeping people from Choice, however. The adage goes: You don’t know what you don’t know, so limited exposure also means generational curses are hard to cure.
However, for the first time in human history, circumstances have been downgraded second to an individual’s curiosity and creativity. The antidote has arrived and it’s technology.
Technology grants unprecedented access to education, financial literacy, and opportunity. Anyone can be in the know or broadcast a message - and that is a good start for equity.
Eliminating Gatekeepers
Governments, corporate leaders, and media have played gatekeeper to information as long as the institutions have been around. They’ve been able to filter and polish news, shaping the perception of people and events, pulling focus to or away from whomever or whatever is important… according to them.
That is until individuals broke the dam of these centuries-old establishments, and the other sides of the stories flooded forums, blogs, and social media. Also for the first time, those in power are forced to hear and respond to the comment section or a direct at-mention in order to avoid and mitigate a PR nightmare. The people are calling-out flaws and whistle-blowing severe conditions — power to the billions, not the billionaires.
Without the restrictions of agenda or program schedules, anyone can share raw coverage or commentary instantly online. It’s hard to suppress Deep Throat when any operative with a conscience has worldwide communications in their back pocket.
The Key to Elite Secrets
The clubs of wealth and high society have always had the finest guards money could buy. Literally and in the institutions their money built and their insiders shaped.
During pre-revolutionary France, aristos leisure grazed while those outside their gilded gates starved. In the 1950s, impeccable dinner conversation and invitations proved your quality. If you hadn’t the chance to attend finishing school, then your blue-collar manners would signal to elites your outsider status. While one of these scenarios displays easier-to-spot injustices than the other, they both effectively sequestered elites with elites and others with others.
Then, the rise of YouTube and exposés, tutorials, and hacks that unlocked the gates of any long-protected secrets you can think to type into search.
New Capabilities and Access
Ten grand might have once stood in the way of the average, modern American and a diversified investment portfolio. But now the average American possesses a smartphone and can access vetted fintech apps that allow users to invest change. There are wealth and investment podcasts, channels, and blogs where any question can be answered. The barrier to entry into the world of financial wellness is at an all-time low.
Ivy League schools offer limited classes for free online. Award-winning authors, paradigm-shifting marketing moguls, and former presidents share insights and trade secrets in freely available classes. The public has access to experts and geniuses in the DMs.
Conclusion
Technology and free speech have given humankind opportunities that have never before been available. It seems that the only limits are creativity and curiosity when it comes to sourcing answers, learning valuable skills, or connecting with a new network. Having said that, even this article supposes that the reader has access to the internet and a smartphone or the time to devote to learning something new. Bias and privilege is the foundation of these words.
More must be done to open communication between people with different backgrounds, encourage safe discourse, and continue efforts around equity in order to give everyone options.