Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is creating a new office to ensure that all Michigan residents have access to high speed internet.

The Michigan High Speed Internet Office is a new project that Whitmer announced to work toward making sure all of Michigan has access to high speed internet. If you live in a fairly populated area, it might seem inconceivable that there are people without high speed access in Michigan. The fact is though that there are many rural areas throughout the state with no high speed internet.

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This is a fact of life for any Michiganders living in rural areas. I know this pain first hand after growing up in northern Michigan. I grew up without cable tv, and now a trip up to my moms house means dealing with the slowest internet imaginable. I actually like it, and use it as a chance to unplug a little bit, but my wife and kids basically view it as torture.

I genuinely think that many of the adults living somewhere without high speed internet, may actually enjoy not being connected. Covid showed us all this year that not having access to high speed internet can be a huge hindrance for kids. School systems in northern Michigan didn't have the luxury of just switching everything to an online format, and that's one of the main drivers behind the new initiative.

This project is obviously years away from being finished, but it's still exciting to see things moving in the right direction.

I have family that work for a charter school in northern Michigan, and the lengths they went to during the pandemic to make sure their students were involved were tremendous. Having the busses drive their routes to deliver homework packets, and lunches to families in need are just some of the extra tasks they took on.

Hopefully the process will happen quickly and the entire state will have high speed internet access soon. That way I'll be able to tell my kids to get off line at home and at Grandma's house.

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