"The ownership of computers in the home is far less than the statistics show, because usually when the computer breaks down once, that is the end of it for a long, long time. They do not have the money or incentive to get the computer repaired"
About this Quote
Owens is puncturing the glossy optimism of early home-computing stats with a politician’s most useful weapon: the unromantic detail. “Ownership” sounds like a clean, binary metric - you have a computer or you don’t. He forces a messier reality into view: possession isn’t participation. A broken machine in a cash-strapped household is not a temporary inconvenience; it’s a quiet eviction from the future everyone else is already moving into.
The quote’s intent is policy-facing, almost budgetary, but the subtext is moral. Owens is arguing that the digital divide isn’t just about initial access; it’s about durability, maintenance, and the ongoing costs that middle-class narratives treat as background noise. The line “far less than the statistics show” is a rebuke to institutional self-congratulation - the kind of numbers politicians and companies love because they flatter progress. He’s warning that metrics can become alibis: if the charts say the problem is shrinking, the urgency to fund repairs, training, and support shrinks with it.
Context matters: this is a late-20th-century argument about technology as infrastructure, not luxury. Owens frames computers like utilities: if they fail and no one can service them, the “service” never really existed. “Money or incentive” lands as a double indictment - poverty limits resources, and a lack of training or relevant opportunities makes repair feel irrational. He’s not describing technophobia; he’s describing rational triage under inequality.
The quote’s intent is policy-facing, almost budgetary, but the subtext is moral. Owens is arguing that the digital divide isn’t just about initial access; it’s about durability, maintenance, and the ongoing costs that middle-class narratives treat as background noise. The line “far less than the statistics show” is a rebuke to institutional self-congratulation - the kind of numbers politicians and companies love because they flatter progress. He’s warning that metrics can become alibis: if the charts say the problem is shrinking, the urgency to fund repairs, training, and support shrinks with it.
Context matters: this is a late-20th-century argument about technology as infrastructure, not luxury. Owens frames computers like utilities: if they fail and no one can service them, the “service” never really existed. “Money or incentive” lands as a double indictment - poverty limits resources, and a lack of training or relevant opportunities makes repair feel irrational. He’s not describing technophobia; he’s describing rational triage under inequality.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
More Quotes by Major
Add to List
